LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


%eabers  in  Science 


DAR\VIN    AND    THE    SQUIRRELS, 


OLeafcers  in  Science 


CHARLES  DARWIN 


HIS  LIFE  AND  WORK 


BY 

CHARLES  FREDERICK  HOLDER 


G.  P.   PUTNAM'S   SONS 

NEW    YORK  LONDON 

27  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD   STREET  24   BEDFORD   STREET,   STRAND 

Iht  IJnichtrbocktr  grtss 
1892 


COPYRIGHT,  1891 

BV 
CHARLES   FREDERICK    HOLDER 


Ube  fmicfcerbocfter  press,  *Uw  Bock 

Electrotyped.  Printed,  and  Bound  by 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Son* 


W^fc  HEN  the  publishers  proposed  to 
IH  me  the  subject  of  the  present 
fe  volume,  a  life  of  Charles  Darwin 
for  American  and  English  read- 
ers, I  was  particularly  gratified 
with  the  suggestion  that  the  work 
should  be  adapted  .o  young  readers 
as  well  as  old.  It  has  always  seemed  to 
me  that  the  life  of  Charles  Darwin  was 
one  eminently  fitted  to  be  held  up  as  an 
example  to  the  youth  of  all  lands.  He  stood  as 
the  central  figure  in  the  field  of  natural  science  in 
this  century,  and  while  it  is  yet  too  early  to  present 
his  life  with  any  approximation  of  its  results  upon 
the  thought  of  the  future,  it  is  apparent  to  every 
one  that  his  influence  upon  the  intellectual  growth 
of  the  country,  and  upon  biological  science  in  par- 
ticular, has  been  marked  and  epoch  making. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  work  I  have  not  at- 
tempted an  analytical  dissertation  upon  Darwin's 
life-work,  neither  have  I  discussed  his  theories  or 
their  possible  effect  upon  the  scientific  world,  but 


vi  Preface. 

have  simply  presented  the  story  of  his  life,  that  of 
one  of  the  greatest  naturalists  of  the  age  ;  a  life  of 
singular  purity  ;  the  life  of  a  man  who,  in  loftiness  of 
purpose  and  the  accomplishment  of  grand  results, 
was  the  centre  of  observation  in  his  time ;  revered 
and  honored,  yet  maligned  and  attacked  as  few 
have  been. 

}-'  J>rh]ave  asked  my  readers  to  follow  with  me  the 
footsteps  of  the  naturalist  from  school-days  in  Eng- 
land to  foreign  shores,  seeking  to  interest  them  in 
the  pursuits  which  he  loved  and  to  enable  them  to 
observe  the  things  which  he" saw,  believing  that  in 
this  way  the  remarkable  traits  of  the  man  as  an 
observer  and  thinker  can  be  best  and  most  forcibly 
shown.  I  have  had  an  object  beyond  that  of  simply 
.telling  his  story,  and  one  which  I  believe  would  com- 
mend itself  to  the  great  investigator  were  he  living  : 
it  is,  by  tracing  and  following  his  work  and  investiga- 
tions, to  encourage,  young  men  and  women  to  emu- 
late his  methods,  become  students  in  the  great  field 
of  nature,  and  enjoy  the  delights  of  actual  contact 
with  the  world  o'f  which  he  was  an  active  worker. 
That  such  a  career  is  ennobling  I  trust  the  following 
pages  will  demonstrate. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  volume  I  am  indebted 
to  Francis  Darwin,  Esq.,  of  Cambridge,  England, 
whose  life  .of  his  father  is  the  only  work  extant 
giving  fully  the  life  and  letters  of  the  naturalist.  My 
thanks  are  also  due  the  Biological  Society  of  Wash- 
ington for  the  extracts  from  the  Darwin  Memorial, 
/.which .'I  conceive  to  be  of  especial  interest  to  Eng- 
lish.  readers  as.  an  expression  from  the  leading 


Preface.  vii 

naturalists  of  America  on  the  English  scientist.  My 
acknowledgments  are  also  given  to  Professor  True, 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  for  the  loan  of  a  rare 
and  excellent  likeness  of  Darwin,  and  important 
papers  ;  and  to  my  wife,  whose  aid  and  cooperation 
have  been  invaluable. 

C.  F.  H. 

PASADENA,  CAL.,  November  i,  1890. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PACK 

THE  BOY  DARWIN I 

The  First  Paper — Taste  for  Natural  History — Birthplace — 
Early  School-Days—Religious  Nature— Books  Which  Influ- 
enced Him — Associates — Introduction  to  Scientific  Men — 
Taste  for  Sport. 


CHAPTER  II. 
COLLEGE  DAYS 12 

College  Life — Thoughts  of  Entering  the  Church — A  Poor 
Mathematician  —  Beetle  Collecting — First  Appearance  in 
Print — Associations  with  Eminent  Men — Scientific  Reading 
— Favourite  Authors — Interest  in  Geology. 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  YOUNG  NATURALIST 19 

The  Beagle — An  Offer  of  Importance — The  Young  Natural- 
ist— The  Voyage — Powers  of  Observation — Cape  Verd 
Islands — Tours  of  Investigation — Dust-Showers — Wonderful 
Phenomena — Geological  Studies — St.  Paul's  Rocks — Fernan- 
do de  Noronha. 


Contents. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PAGE 

IN  SOUTHERN  SEAS 31 

The  Log-Book— Bahia— Singular  Appearance  of  the  Water 
— The  Vampire  Bat — Slavery — Trips  into  the  Country — 
Rare  Collections — In  the  Brazilian  Forest — Shooting  Mon- 
keys— The  Click  of  a  Butterfly — Jumping  Spiders — Electri- 
cal Displays — The  Plata. 

CHAPTER  V. 

IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  SACRED  TREE    .  .  .  .47 

The  Rio  Negro — Trips  into  the  Interior — The  Sacred  Tree 
—Superstition  of  Natives— Salt  Lakes— Bahia  Blanca— A 
Tomb  of  Giants— The  Mylodon  Danvinii— The  Armadillo 
—Hibernation — Careful  Work — War— General  Rosas — Bru- 
tal Natives — Skilled  Equestrians. 

CHAPTER  VI. 
AMONG  THE  FOSSILS 58 

A  Long  Bullock  Ride — Santa  Fe — An  Animal  Collector- 
Large  Fossils — Indian  Superstitions — Darwin  111 — A  Native 
Doctor — Geology — Gigantic  Armoured  Animals — Drought — 
The  Parana — The  Jaguar — Darwin  a  Prisoner — Swimming 
Horses — Shower  of  Butterflies — Phosphorescence. 

CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  LAND  OF  GIANTS J2 

The  Patagonians — Guanaco  Hunting — Singular  Burial  Cus- 
toms— A  Horse  with  a  Proboscis — Extinction — Up  the  Santa 
Cruz — Puma  Tracks— Catching  the  Condor— Falkland  Isl- 
ands— Among  the  Glaciers — The  Fuegians  —  Giant  Sea- 
Weed  and  Its  Work. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  FOOT  OF  THE  ANDES .83 

At   Valparaiso — Andean    Life — An    Old    Schoolmate — An 


Contents. 


PAGE 

Ocean  Bottom — In  the  Mines — Hot  Springs — Darwin  Ex- 
cites Suspicion — Volcanoes — Tame  Birds — The  Myopota- 
mus — Predaceous  Gulls — Birds  Killed  by  Them. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

IN   THE  EARTHQUAKE  COUNTRY  .  .  .  .89 

At  the   Bay  of  San  Carlos — Earthquakes — Destruction   of 
Concepcion— At  Talcahuana— Tidal  Waves— Poverty  of  the 
Victims — Elevation   of   the   Coast  —  Darwin's   Coolness  in  , 
Danger — Narrow  Escapes. 

CHAPTER  X. 

IN  THE  RED  SNOW  COUNTRY        .  ....       97 

Valparaiso— The  Portillo  Pass— Land  of  the  Red  Snow- 
Electrical  Conditions — A  Swarm  of  Locusts — Experiments 
with  the  Reduvius — A  Forest  of  Stone — Valley  of  the  Copi- 
apo — Ruins  at  Old  Callao — Antiquity  of  Man. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

AMONG  THE  OCEAN  VOLCANOES  .  .  .  .     1 06 

Galapagos  Islands — Number  of  Craters — Gigantic  Tor- 
toises— Land  and  Marine  Lizards — New  Marine  Forms — 
Flora — Number  of  Cryptogamic  Plants — Variety  of  Forms 
on  the  Different  Islands — Tameness  of  the  Birds. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

IN  THE  GARDENS  OF  THE  SEA      .  .  .  .  •     T13 

Keeling  Island — Among  the  Corals — Towed  by  a  Turtle — 
Sagacity  of  the  Birgos — Stinging  Corals — Coral-Eating  Fish 
— Theories  Regarding  Reef  Structure — Mauritius — Extinc- 
tion of  Animals  at  St.  Helena — Return  to  England. 


xii  Contents. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

PACK 

DARWIN  THE  NATURALIST  ...  •     '  23 

Ambition  of  Darwin — Future  Work  Decided  upon — Scien- 
tific Friends — Papers  Read  before  Various  Societies — 
Experiments  with  Earthworms — Marriage  of  Darwin — 
Methods  of  Work — Various  Publications. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

HOME   LIFE 131 

Appearance  of  Darwin — Continued  Ill-Health  —  Daily 
Habits — Change  in  Musical  and  Literary  Tastes — Affection 
for  His  Children. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  WORK  OF  A  LIFE 137 

Early  Papers — Publications  by  Scientific  Societies — "The 
Formation  of  Mould" — "The  Cirripedia" — The  Wallace 
Incident — Collecting  Material  for  the  "Origin  of  Species'" 
— Success  of  the  Work — Time  Spent  in  Authorship — Re- 
ligion—Final Work  and  Death. 

CHAPTER  XVL 

HONOURS  OF  A  LIFETIME 149 

Membership  in  Societies — The  Institute  of  France — Prizes, 
Medals,  Degrees,  Portraits,  Gifts,  etc. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE   DARWIN    FAMILY          .  .  .  .  .  J5<> 

The  First  Known  Darwin— The  Head  of  the  Family- 
Natural- History  Tastes — Poets,  Doctors,  and  Military  Men 
— Erasmus  Darwin — Carlyle's  Description  of  Erasmus — 
Evidences  of  Genius. 


Contents.  xiii 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

PAGE 

DARWINISM 167 

The  Coining  of  the  Word— What  it  Means— Its  Relation  to 
Evolution—"  The  Survival  of  the  Fittest  "— "  The  Struggle 
for  Existence  " — The  Descent — Examples  of  Evolution. 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

DARWINISM  CONTINUED 183 

How  Change  is  Produced — Vast  Eras  of  Time— The  Age  of 
the  Earth — Evidences  of  Evolution — Extinct  Animals. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

THE    DARWIN    MEMORIAL 195 

Addresses  by  American  Scientists  :  Dr.  Theodore  Gill — W. 
II.  Dall— Major  John  W.  Powell— Richard  Rathbun— 
Charles  V.  Riley — Lester  F.  Ward— Frank  Baker— Freder- 
ick W.  True. 

APPENDIX 263 

List  of  Works  by  Charles  Darwin — List  of  Books  containing 
Contributions  by  Charles  Darwin — List  of  Scientific  Papers, 
including  a  Selection  of  Letters  and  Short  Communications 
to  Scientific  Journals — Works  on  Darwinism  for  Further 
Reference* 


275 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PACK 

DARWIN  AND  THE  SQUIRRELS   .  .  .  Frontispiece 

ST.   PAUL'S  ROCKS  FROM    THE   EAST — From  Spry's 

11  Voyage  of  the  Challenger "      .         .         .  24 

SHARK  FISHING  AT  ST.  PAUL'S  ROCKS — From  GoSSe's 

"  Romance  of  Natural  History "        .         .         .26 

A  BRAZILIAN     COLLECTING-GROUND From     Gosse's 

"  Romance  of  Natural  History"        .         .         .28 
PORCUPINE  FISH  (DIODON)  FLOATING  ON  THE  SUR- 
FACE           30 

DARWIN  FINDING  A  VAMPIRE  BAT  BITING  A  HORSE,  52 

BRAZILIAN  HUNTERS  AND  ANIMAL  COLLECTORS       .  36 

SOUTH  AMERICAN  NATIVE  HUT  OF  LEAVES       .         .  38 

A  PLANTER'S  HOUSE  IN  BRAZIL        ....  40 

A  HOME  ON  THE  PARAHIBA  RIVER,  BRAZIL       .         .  42 

CAMP  IN  A  BRAZILIAN  FOREST 44 

SOUTH    AMERICAN    OSTRICH    (RKEA)    AND    YOUNG — 

From  Br chin's  "  Natural  History  "  .         .         .50 

SOUTH  AMERICAN  OSTRICHES  FORDING  A  RIVER  .          52 

NATIVE    AUSTRALIANS    HUNTING    THE    EMU — From 

Figuter's  "  Birds  " 54 


xvi  Illustrations. 

DIAGRAM    ILLUSTRATING    THE   EVOLUTION    OF     THE 

HORSE 62 

THE  PATAGONIAN  CAW — From  Brehm 's  "Natural 

History" 74 

THE  CAPYBARA — From  Brehm's  "  Natural  History  "       76 

DARWIN  SHOOTING  AT  A  CONDOR     .  ...          78 

CAPE      FROWARD,     STRAITS      OF      MAGELLAN — From 

Spry's  "  Voyage  of  the  Challenger  "   .         .         .So 

MUD  VOLCANOES,  TURBACO,  SOUTH  AMERICA — From 

Figuier's  "  World  before  the  Deluge  ''       .         .90 
BARK-GATHERERS'  CAMP  IN  PERU—  From  Figuier's 

"  Vegetable  World" ro2 

ELEPHANT    TORTOISE,    GALAPAGOS    ISLANDS  —  From 

Brehm's"  Natural  History"     .         .         .         .106 

DARWIN     TESTING     THE     SPEED     OF     AN     ELEPHANT 

TORTOISE  (GALAPAGOS  ISLANDS)       .        .        .     108 
A  CORAL  ISLAND,  OR  ATOLL — From  Figuier  s  "  Ocean 

World" 112 

BIRGOS,  OR  COCOA-NUT  CRAB 114 

DARWIN'S  STUDY — From  "  The  Century  Magazine  "     1 28 

PORTRAIT  OF  CHARLES  DARWIN From    "  The    Cen- 

tury  Magazine"        .         .        .         .         .         •     15° 

COLLECTING  IN  THE  SARGASSO  SEA  .  .  .  .176 


CHARLES  DARWIN. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   BOY    DARWIN. 

The  First  Paper — Taste  for  Natural  History— Birthplace — Early 
School  Days — Religious  Nature — Books  Which  Influenced  Him 
— Associates — Introduction  to  Scientific  Men — Taste  for  Sport. 


NE  evening,  in  the  year 
1826,  a  tall,  slender  youth 
rose  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Plinian  Society  of  Edin- 
burgh, and  with  some 
embarrassment  and  hes- 
itation unfolded  a  paper 
and  addressed  the  chair. 

The  speaker  was 
Charles  Darwin,  and  this 
was  his  first  public  at- 
tempt to  convey  to 

others  information  which  he  had  acquired  regarding 

natural  object?.    At  this  time  Darwin  was  seventeen 

i 


2  Charles  Darwin. 

years  of  age  ;  yet  his  paper,  which  was  on  the  com- 
mon Flustra,  or  sea-mat,  attracted  no  little  attention, 
and  was  the  first  in  an  ever  increasing  series  that 
gave  him  in  later  years  a  world-wide  reputation. 

While  this  was  Darwin's  first  public  appearance  as 
a  naturalist,  he  had  long  been  an  ardent  collector. 
Whc,i  but  nine  years  of  age  he  was  the  happy  pos- 
sessor of  a  collection  of  seals,  franks,  coins,  and 
minerals  which  were  the  admiration  of  his  young 
friends  and  acquaintances. 

Our  hero  was  born  at  Shrewsbury  in  1809,  an<^ 
began  his  school-boy  life  at  a  day-school,  later,  in 
1818,  attending  the  large  establishment  of  Dr.  Butler, 
a  mile  from  the  old  homestead.  This  school,  like 
many  of  the  time,  was  a  strictly  classical  institution, 
where  the  young  mind  was  regaled  with  ancient 
geography  and  history  almost  exclusively.  The 
lessons,  so  he  tells  us,  were  "  learned  by  heart,"  with 
interminable  verses, — a  feature  much  esteemed  by 
educators  of  the  day,  and  were  mastered  in  boyish 
fashion  by  a  combination  of  the  talent  of  the  school. 
He  was  singularly  deficient  in  language,  yet  pos- 
sessed, like  other  members  of  his  family,  a  remarkable 
memory,  so  that,  as  he  writes  in  his  quaint  Autobi- 
ography :  "  Much  attention  was  paid  to  learning  by 
heart  the  lessons  of  the  previous  day ;  this  I  could 
effect  with  great  facility,  learning  forty  or  fifty  lines 
of  Virgil  or  Homer  whilst  I  was  in  morning  chapel ; 
but  this  exercise  was  utterly  useless,  for  every  verse 
was  forgotten  in  forty-eight  hours." 

Our  young  hero,  while  manly  and  thoughtful,  was 
simple-hearted,  and  often  a  victim  to  the  deceptions 


School  Days. 


practised  by  boys  upon  each  other.  Among  his 
comrades  was  a  boy  named  Garnett,  who  one  day 
invited  young  Darwin  into  a  store  and  treated  him 
to  cakes.  Darwin  noticed  that  his  friend  did  not 
pay  for  them,  and  the  occurrence,  so  unusual,  moved 
him  to  ask  for  an  explanation.  Mischievous  Garnett 
eyed  his  young  schoolmate  a  moment,  much  a3  Mr. 
Jingle  did  Mr.  Pickwick  on  their  famous  ride,  and 
replied :  "  Why,  my  uncle  left  a  large  sum  to  each 
tradesman  in  the  town  with  the  understanding  that 
anyone  who  wore  his  old  hat  and  moved  it  in  a 
peculiar  way  should  obtain  what  he  wished  free." 
Young  Darwin  was  naturally  seized  with  a  burning 
desire  to  exercise  this  wonderful  power,  which  his 
comrade  was  only  too  eager  to  grant  ;  so  the  next 
store  they  came  to  Darwin  took  the  hat,  walked 
bravely  in,  and  ordered  a  supply  of  good  things, 
giving  the  old  hat  a  move  as  directed.  He  was  pass- 
ing out,  when  the  storekeeper,  who  was  at  first 
amazed,  dashed  over  the  counter  after  the  singular 
customer,  who  stood  not  upon  the  order  of  going, 
but  dropped  hat  and  cakes  and  ran  as  if  for  his  life 
to  the  measure  of  the  hearty  laughter  of  his  com- 
panion. 

While  Darwin  was  fond  of  sport  and  a  true  boy 
in  his  pranks  and  games,  there  was  a  vein  of  uncon- 
scious dignity  in  him  that  the  average  youth  did  not 
possess.  He  tells  us  that  in  running  to  school  he 
prayed  to  the  Lord  to  aid  him  in  arriving  before  it 
was  too  late,  which  would  show  a  strong  religious 
nature  ;  and  that  he  was  humane  and  honourable  to  a 
marked  degree  is  well  known.  How  many  boys  in 


Charles  Darwin. 


collecting  eggs  think  of  the  rights  of  the  birds? 
Yet  our  young  naturalist,  while  an  indefatigable  col- 
lector of  birds'  eggs  and  nests,  was  invariably  careful 
to  take  but  one  egg  from  each  nest, — recognising  in 
this  the  rights  of  the  lower  animals.  His  humani- 
tarian ideas  were  carried  to  what  some  would  consider 
extremes ;  thus,  hearing  at  his  uncle  Josiah  Wedg- 
wood's, that  it  was  cruel  to  spit  living  worms,  he 
killed  them  first  by  a  bath  of  salt  and  water. 

As  a  boy  he  was  fond  of  solitary  walks,  and  often 
rambled  away  by  himself,  loving  the  quiet  seclusion 
of  the  forests,  the  haunts  and  fishing-pools  at  Maer, 
or  the  old  fortifications  about  Shrewsbury.  At  such 
times  he  frequently  became  lost  in  meditation,  so 
that  in  one  instance,  while  deeply  absorbed,  he 
walked  over  a  parapet,  falling  a  distance  of  seven  or 
eight  feet.  In  referring  to  this,  he  naively  remarks : 
"  The  number  of  thoughts  which  passed  through  my 
mind  during  this  very  short,  but  sudden  and  wholly 
unexpected,  fall  was  astonishing,  and  seem  hardly 
compatible  with  what  physiologists  have,  I  believe, 
proved  about  each  thought  requiring  quite  an  ap- 
preciable amount  of  time." 

The  young  naturalist  early  developed  habits  of 
observation,  and  entered  into  investigations,  espe- 
cially of  difficult  and  complex  subjects,  with  an 
ardour  and  interest  that  was  infectious.  He  expe- 
•rienced  intense  pleasure  in  geometrical  problems, 
enjoying  the  reasoning  that  was  involved,  and 
showed  marked  evidence  of  the  care  and  patience 
in  attaining  certain  ends  that  produced  such  results 
in  his  later  career.  The  books  which  influenced  his 


His  Books. 


boyish  mind  were  Horace,  certain  odes  of  which 
appear  to  have  been  the  one  bright  feature  in  his 
school  life ;  many  hours  were  spent  poring  over  the 
historical  plays  of  Shakespeare,  while  the  poetry  of 
Byron  and  Scott,  and  especially  Thomson's  "  Sea- 
sons," seem  to  have  given  him  pleasure  and  satisfac- 
tion. A  book  that  had  a  strong  influence  upon  him 
was  the  "  Wonders  of  the  World,"  over  whose  varied 
contents  he  often  pored,  discussing  the  strange  facts 
set  forth  with  his  companions.  Small  things  often 
have  much  to  do  in  shaping  our  lives,  and  in  this 
volume  we  undoubtedly  find  the  germ  that  excited 
in  his  mind  the  love  for  travel  and  exploration 
which  ultimately  resulted  in  the  famous  voyage 
which  he  made  around  the  world  in  the  Beagle. 
Darwin  testifies  to  the  correctness  of  this,  and  in 
later  years,  in  referring  to  the  book,  wrote  to  a 
German  publisher:  "I  believe  that  this  book  first 
gave  me  a  wish  to  travel  in  remote  countries,  which 
was  ultimately  fulfilled  by  the  voyage  of  the  Beagle" 

While  we  may  trace  the  love  of  travel  to  hours 
spent  over  this  volume,  his  passion  for  natural 
history  was  accelerated  by  White's  "  Selborne." 
From  its  pages  he  obtained  his  fondness  for  birds, 
learning  to  note  their  ways  and  habits,  and  be- 
coming an  ardent  ornithologist. 

Darwin  had  a  decided  natural  inclination  to  litera- 
ture of  a  scientific  character.  He  read  during  these 
days  several  books  on  chemistry,  and  worked  with 
his  elder  brother  in  his  laboratory,  making  gases  and 
various  other  chemical  compounds ;  and  that  it  was 
an  unusual  taste  among  the  boys  of  the  time  is 


Charles 


shown  by  the  fact  that  he  was  nicknamed  "  Gas  "  by 
his  fellows,  while  even  the  head-master  rebuked  him 
for  wasting  his  time  upon  subjects  that  could  be  of 
no  possible  use  to  him  in  later  life.  The  opinions  of 
this  teacher  seem  to  have  been  entertained  by  Dar- 
win the  elder,  who,  concluding  that  our  hero  was 
accomplishing  little  at  the  school,  took  him  away  in 
October,  1825,  and  sent  him  to  the  University  of 
Edinburgh  to  study  medicine.  Unfortunately,  Dar- 
win now  discovered  that  his  father  was  a  wealthy 
man,  and,  being  of  an  argumentative  mind,  he  failed 
to  see  that  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  make  any 
especial  exertion  when  he  was  certain  of  coming 
into  a  goodly  heritage.  It  is  interesting  to  note  this 
resolution — notably,  not  an  evidence  of  ambition  or 
lofty  ideas — appearing  in  a  life  whose  history  in  later 
years  is  marked  by  its  high  and  lofty  aims  and  fixity 
of  purpose. 

Darwin  entered  the  University  of  Edinburgh, 
where  his  brother  was  studying,  without  ambition, 
and,  like  many  boys,  drifted  with  the  current.  He 
found  the  lectures,  with  the  exception  of  those  on 
his  favourite  chemistry,  dull  and  uninteresting,  while 
those  on  materia  medica  by  Dr.  Duncan  he  describes 
as  something  fearful  to  remember  in  their  dullness. 
The  subjects  were  distasteful  to  him,  causing  him  to 
neglect  dissection,  which  in  later  years  he  appears  to 
have  greatly  regretted,  being  an  absolute  necessity 
in  the  elaborate  and  minute  investigations  that 
formed  his  life-work.  Despite  his  lack  of  interest 
as  a  student  he  obtained  patients,  and,  in  all  proba- 
bility, would  have  succeeded  under  the  tutelage 


His  Friends. 


of  his  father,  an  eminent  physician,  had  not  a  pain- 
ful operation  in  the  hospital  at  Edinburgh  practically 
ended  his  career  in  medicine,  as  he  tells  us  that  he 
bore  it  as  long  as  he  could,  and  then  rushed  from  the 
room  ;  the  scene,  which  was  enacted  before  the  days 
of  chloroform,  haunting  him  for  years.  This  is  sug- 
gestive of  the  extremely  sympathetic  temperament 
of  the  boy  Darwin ;  his  entire  nature  was  one  of 
tenderness,  not  only  to  his  companions,  but  to  all 
living  things.  While  his  school  days  were  not  re- 
sulting in  any  apparent  accumulation  of  knowledge 
in  the  lines  indicated  by  the  curriculum,  we  find  the 
love  of  natural  history  steadily  growing. 

He  was  an  ardent  collector  of  minerals ;  and  the 
love  for  insect  studies,  which  he  developed  when  but 
ten  years  of  age,  down  by  the  sea-shore  in  Wales, 
was  one  of  the  delightful  memories  in  later  life.  At 
Edinburgh  he  found  congenial  friends  in  young  men 
who  were  interested  in  natural  science,  and  the  asso- 
ciations and  friendships  then  formed  had  no  little 
influence  in  shaping  his  future  career.  Here  he  met 
Ainsworth,  who  afterwards  became  a  famous  geolo- 
gist, and  wrote  a  book  on  Assyria ;  Dr.  Coldstream, 
a  writer  on  zoological  subjects ;  and  Hardie,  who 
was  a  promising  botanist.  Of  all  the  friends  made 
at  this  time,  perhaps  Dr.  Grant  exercised  the  great- 
est influence  over  him.  With  this  zoologist  he  made 
many  trips  to  the  sea-coast,  became  familiar  with  the 
methods  of  current  investigation,  and  it  was  during 
these  days  that  the  observations  regarding  the  Flus- 
tra,  mentioned  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  were 
made,  Dr.  Grant  referred  to  Darwin's  investigations 


8  Charles  Darwin. 

in  his  memoir  on  the  Flustra,  in  which  our  young 
naturalist  saw  his  name  for  the  first  time  in  print. 
Dr.  Grant  introduced  him  to  many  persons  interested 
in  science,  and  invited  him  to  the  meetings  of  the 
Royal  Medical  Society,  where,  according  to  Darwin, 
"much  rubbish  was  talked."  Dr.  Grant  also  took 
him  to  the  Wernerian  Society,  where  he  listened  to 
Audubon,  who  was  then  in  Europe  in  the  interests 
of  his  great  work  on  birds,  and  who  read  several 
papers  before  the  Society.  These  days  were  rich  in 
future  promise  for  the  young  student,  all  his  associa- 
tions being  such  as  to  increase  his  interest  in  science. 
He  enlarged  his  acquaintance  on  all  sides,  took  les- 
sons in  taxidermy,  with  a  man  who  had  travelled 
with  Waterton,  and  with  Mr.  Leonard  Horner  visited 
the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  listened 
to  Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  was  at  that  time  its  presi- 
dent. The  proceedings  produced  a  profound  im- 
pression, shown  by  his  statement  in  later  years  :  "  If 
I  had  been  told  at  that  time  that  I  should  one  day 
have  been  thus  honoured  (with  membership),  I 
should  have  thought  it  as  ridiculous  and  improb- 
able, as  if  I  had  been  told  that  I  should  be  elected 
King  of  England." 

Darwin's  taste  for  science  was  supplemented  by  a 
course  of  studies,  and  in  his  second  year  he  attended 
a  series  of  lectures  on  geology  and  zoology,  those  in 
the  former  making  a  decided  impression  upon  him, 
as  he  says  :  "  The  sole  effect  they  produced  on  me 
was  the  determination  never,  as  long  as  I  lived,  to 
read  a  book  on  geology."  In  other  words,  the 
lecturer  had  the  unhappy  faculty  of  making  sub- 


Tour  in    Wales. 


jects  naturally  of  interest  exceedingly  dry.  While 
the  lectures  of  this  instructor  were  of  no  especial 
advantage,  they  were  the  means  of  his  meeting  Mr. 
Macgillivray,  the  curator  of  the  local  museum,  who 
in  after  years  wrote  a  work  on  Scottish  birds,  and 
was  an  enthusiastic  naturalist. 

During  the  long-vacation  period  Darwin  threw 
aside  his  books,  and  with  some  congenial  friend 
took  long  walks  over  the  country,  enriching  his 
mind  by  personal  contact  with  nature,  thus  building 
up  the  taste  for  investigation  which  formed  so  promi- 
nent a  feature  in  his  after-life.  These  walks  were 
something  more  than  would  be  attempted  by  the 
average  American  school-boy.  He  thought  nothing 
of  covering  thirty  miles  in  a  day ;  and,  during  the 
summer  of  1826,  with  two  friends,  with  knapsack  on 
back,  he  travelled  over  a  large  part  of  Wales,  later 
going  over  the  ground  again  with  his  sister,  that  she 
might  be  a  participant  in  his  enjoyment. 

After  the  summer  trips  the  autumn  was  gener- 
ally passed  at  Mr.  Owen's,  at  Woodhouse,  or  at 
his  uncle  Josiah  Wedgwood's,  at  Maer,  where  he 
found  opportunity  to  indulge  in  shooting,  which 
was  as  much  a  passion  with  him  as  collecting 
minerals  or  insects.  Days  were  spent  on  the  heath 
and  among  the  Scotch  firs,  following  the  game- 
keeper after  black  game,  and  no  young  American 
trout  fisherman  kept  a  closer  record  than  did  our 
sportsman  naturalist.  Every  bird  shot  during  the 
season  was  carefully  noted, — a  fact  which  shows  the 
method,  thoroughness,  and  detail  that  marked  every 
subject  in  which  he  wa:>  interested.  His  care  to 


io  Charles  Darwin. 

credit  himself  with  the  results  of  his  skill  was  often 
the  subject  of  practical  jokes  on  the  part  of  his 
friends,  and  he  relates  the  following :  "  One  day, 
when  shooting  at  Woodhouse  with  Captain  Owen, 
the  eldest  son,  and  Major  Hill,  his  cousin,  after- 
wards Lord  Berwick,  both  of  whom  I  liked  very 
much,  I  thought  myself  shamefully  used,  for  every 
time  after  I  had  fired,  and  thought  that  I  had  killed 
a  bird,  one  of  the  two  acted  as  if  loading  his  gun,  and 
cried  out,  '  You  must  not  count  that  bird,  for  I  fired 
at  the  same  time,'  and  the  gamekeeper,  perceiving 
the  joke,  backed  them  up.  After  some  hours  they 
told  me  the  joke,  but  it  was  no  joke  to  me,  for  I  had 
shot  a  large  number  of  birds,  but  did  not  know  how 
many,  and  could  not  add  them  to  my  list,  which  I 
used  to  do  by  making  a  knot  in  a  piece  of  string 
tied  to  a  button-hole ;  this  my  wicked  friends  had 
perceived." 

As  enthusiastic  as  he  was,  Darwin  had  some  doubts 
in  his  mind  as  to  whether  such  excessive  zeal  was  to 
be  commended,  and  we  find  he  argued  with  himself 
on  the  question,  quieting  his  doubts  at  one  time  by 
assuming  and  almost  convincing  himself  that  the 
perfection  to  which  he  had  attained  was  really  an 
evidence  of  high  intelligence  on  his  part.  The  fact 
that  he  could  find  game  when  no  one  else  could,  and 
manage  the  dogs  with  consummate  skill,  seemed  to 
his  mind  sufficient  reason  for  pursuing  the  pastime. 

At  Maer  he  met  many  distinguished  people,  and 
in  the  home  of  the  famous  Wedgwood  there  was 
an  air  of  refinement  and  culture  most  valuable  in 
rounding  and  shaping  the  ideas  of  so  thoughtful  and 


Sir  J.  Mackintosh.  n 

clever  a  youth.  Here  he  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Sir  J.  Mackintosh,  whose  well-known  conversational 
powers  appear  to  have  impressed  the  young  natural- 
ist, and  that  the  elder  man  foresaw  something  in  his 
young  friend  may  be  surmised  from  his  remark, 
long  remembered  by  Danvin  :  "  There  is  something 
in  you  that  interests  me."  In  these  boyhood  days 
we  see  many  qualities  that  Darwin  himself  modestly 
disclaims  :  a  steadfastness  of  purpose,  a  perceptive 
faculty,  and  demand  for  something  beyond  the  limited 
educational  facilities  of  the  day.  His  actual  school- 
ing may  be  said  to  have  been  a  failure,  as  he  neglected 
the  dry  classical  studies  or  forgot  them  ;  yet  the  les- 
sons he  drew  from  the  broad  field  of  nature  were  well 
learned  and  never  forgotten. 


CHAPTER  II. 

COLLEGE    DAYS. 

College  Life— Thoughts  of  Entering  the  Church — A  Poor  Mathema- 
tician—Beetle Collecting— First  Appearance  in  Print— Associa- 
tions with  Eminent  Men — Scientific  Reading — Favourite  Authors 
— Interest  in  Geology. 

HE  college  life  of  Darwin 
constitutes  one  of  the 
epochs  of  his  career,  as 
during  these  days,  so 
happy  in  their  memory, 
.occurred  many  of  the  in- 
cidents that  shaped  his 
future.  He  entered  col- 
lege in  1828,  this  move- 
ment being  the  result  of 
a  decision  on  the  part  of 
his  family,  that  as  he  had 
failed  as  a  doctor,  he  might  possibly  be  induced  to 
enter  the  Church.  This  proposition  was  made  to 
the  young  man,  who  asked  time  in  which  to  con- 
sider, during  which  deliberation  he  read  attentively 
several  religious  works,  including  "  Pearson  on  the 
Creed,"  and  questioned  himself  thoroughly  as  to  his 


Enters   College.  13 


beliefs  and  disbeliefs.  He  confesses  to  having  some 
scruples  about  accepting  all  the  dogmas  of  the 
Church,  but  as  he  believed  in  the  Bible  implicitly 
and  literally,  he  soon  satisfied  himself  that  he  could 
accept  the  creed  without  any  reservation.  In  refer- 
ring to  this  interesting  period  in  his  life,  Darwin 
in  his  Autobiography  says  that  years  after  a  German 
psychological  society  sent  for  his  photograph,  and 
after  much  discussion  reported  that  he  had  the  bump 
of  reverence  developed  enough  for  ten  priests  ;  so 
that  it  might  be  assumed  that  he  was  well  equipped 
by  nature  for  order  taking. 

Darwin,  however,  was  not  destined  for  the  Church, 
though  he  entered  Cambridge  with  this  purpose  in 
view,  and  took  up  a  course  of  studies  which  would 
give  him  the  desired  degree.  He  found  that  he  had 
forgotten  his  Latin  and  Greek,  which  necessitated 
work  with  a  private  tutor,  so  that  he  did  not  enter 
college  until  Christmas  of  the  year  1828. 

As  far  as  academical  studies  were  concerned  we 
learn  that  his  three  years'  work  here  was  almost  a 
perfect  blank.  Mathematics  was  never  mastered 
without  extreme  difficulty — a  fact  which  he  empha- 
sised in  a  letter  written  to  Dr.  J.  B.  Holder,  father 
of  the  author,  some  years  ago,  when  the  two  were 
discussing  the  flight  of  birds.  So  difficult  was  it  for 
Darwin  to  master  this  study  that  he  was  almost  dis- 
couraged, and  in  referring  to  it  he  says  :  "  I  do  not 
believe  that  I  should  ever  have  succeeded  beyond  a 
very  low  grade."  Though  the  young  student  may 
have  lacked  application  it  is  evident  that  he  acquired 
information  very  readily,  as,  while  confessing  what 


14  Charles  Darwin. 

might  seem  unusual  indifference,  he  took  the  degree  of 
B.A.  without  apparent  exertion.  At  this  time  he  read 
such  works  as  Paley's  "  Evidences  of  Christianity  " 
and  "  Moral  Philosophy,"  and  the  thoroughness  of 
his  reading  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  he 
could  have  written  out  from  memory  almost  the 
entire  former  work.  This  course  of  reading,  without 
the  demand  for  memorising,  which  was  a  part  of  the 
educational  methods  in  former  years,  he  conceived 
to  be  the  only  part  of  the  academical  course  of  any 
actual  advantage  to  him.  There  were  several  lectures 
in  the  course,  but  those  by  Professor  Henslow,  on 
botany,  were  the  only  ones  he  attended.  The  walks 
and  strolls  with  this  naturalist  in  search  of  rare  plants 
and  flowers  were  highly  enjoyed,  and  what  proved  a 
life-long  friendship  was  begun.  During  the  college 
days  his  love  for  natural  history  was  steadily  in- 
creasing. He  was  now  especially  interested  in  the 
study  of  beetles  ;  not  to  dissect  them,  but  for  the 
simple  delight  of  possessing  great  numbers  and  com- 
paring them  one  with  another,  and  his  collection  was 
a  large  and  really  valuable  one.  How  enthusiastic 
he  was  may  be  seen  from  the  following  incident :  In 
ripping  down  the  bark  from  an  old  tree  he  saw  two 
rare  beetles,  which  he  captured,  one  in  each  hand. 
Just  then  out  ran  a  third,  equally  rare  and  beautiful ; 
but  what  was  to  be  done  ?  There  was  no  time  for 
deliberation,  so  he  put  one  beetle  in  his  mouth,  thus 
freeing  a  hand  to  seize  the  fleeing  prize  ;  but  the 
second  beetle,  objecting  to  this  unceremonious  treat- 
ment, emitted  a  secretion  so  bitter  that  he  was  forced 
to  eject  it,  losing  in  the  confusion  of  the  attack  two 
of  the  insects. 


Intimacies  Formed.  15 

Darwin  was  an  indefatigable  collector,  and  having 
an  ample  allowance  was  enabled  to  give  full  bent  to 
his  tastes  and  inclinations.  He  collected  in  a  most 
systematic  manner,  following  methods  of  his  own 
devising.  He  employed  a  workman,  who  spent  his 
time  during  the  winter  in  scraping  the  decayed  moss 
from  trees  and  in  collecting  suitable  material  from 
various  sources,  all  of  which  was  placed  in  a  bag  and 
brought  to  the  young  naturalist,  who  in  this  way 
found  many  rare  and  choice  specimens. 

Of  the  delights  of  this  study  Darwin  was  fond  of 
talking,  and  in  his  Autobiography  he  wrote  :  "  No 
poet  ever  felt  more  delighted  at  seeing  his  first  poem 
published  than  I  did  at  seeing,  in  Stephen's  '  Illus- 
trations of  British  Insects,'  the  magic  words, '  captured 
by  C.  Darwin,  Esq.'  " 

Our  hero  had  as  a  companion  during  his  college 
days  a  cousin,  W.  D.  Fox,  a  Christ's-College  man, 
who  encouraged  him  in  his  studies  and  introduced 
him  to  a  number  of  well-known  naturalists.  Here 
he  met  Albert  Way  of  Trinity,  who  in  after  years  be- 
came a  distinguished  archaeologist.  He  was  intimate 
with  Whitley,  Senior  Wrangler,  afterwards  Hon. 
Canon  of  Durham,  who,  being  a  man  of  refined  and 
cultivated  tastes,  influenced  the  young  man  for  the 
best  and  inculcated  in  him  a  love  for  the  beautiful 
in  art,  as  well  as  nature.  Whitley  became  his  guide 
and  censor  to  a  certain  extent,  and  trips  were  made 
together  to  the  various  art  galleries,  where  Darwin, 
through  observation  and  talks  with  his  friend  and 
the  curator,  acquired  a  good  knowledge  of  the 
standard  and  various  schools  of  art.  This  taste,  he 
tells  us,  was  not  a  natural  one,  and  was  perhaps  in 


1 6  Charles  Darwin. 

accord  with  his  fondness  for  music  at  this  time, 
though  he  was  not  a  musician  and  could  not  dis- 
tinguish harmony  from  discord. 

I  have  said  that  the  college  life  of  Darwin  con- 
stituted one  of  the  important  epochs  in  his  career ; 
this  was  mainly  due  to  his  acquaintance  and  ultimate 
friendship  with  Professor  Henslow,  the  naturalist. 
He  was  presented  to  the  latter  by  his  cousin  already 
alluded  to,  and  went  weekly  to  his  house,  which  was 
the  acknowledged  centre  of  scientific  interest.  The 
intimacy  increased,  and  Darwin  soon  became  his 
constant  companion  during  walks  and  strolls,  when 
we  may  naturally  suppose  that  the  conversation 
turned  on  natural  history.  Professor  Henslow  was 
one  of  the  best-posted  men  of  his  time  in  geology, 
botany,  and  the  various  branches  of  science.  He 
was  also  a  close  investigator  and,  according  to  Dar- 
win, extremely  fond  of  drawing  conclusions  from 
long-continued  and  minute  observations. 

If  there  is  one  feature  more  than  another  in  the 
life  of  Darwin  that  impresses  the  reader  it  is  the 
time  he  spent  in  careful  investigations,  and  the 
thoroughness  which  characterised  all  his  scientific 
work,  and  that  his  methods,  which  were  so  eminently 
successful  and  telling,  were  the  result  of  this  com- 
panionship to  a  great  extent  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
Darwin  himself  says :  "  My  intimacy  with  such  a 
man  ought  to  have  been,  and  I  hope  was,  an  in- 
estimable benefit." 

This  intimacy  with  Henslow  naturally  enlarged  the 
young  man's  scientific  acquaintance,  among  whom 
were  Dr.  Whewell,  a  man  of  distinguished  attain- 


Scientific  Reading.  \  7 


ments,  and  a  conversationalist  ranked  by  Darwin 
next  to  Sir  John  Mackintosh ;  Leonard  Jenyns,  a 
well-known  zoologist,  who  in  later  years  was  associ- 
ated with  Darwin  in  scientific  work ;  Mr.  Ramsay,  a 
brother  of  Sir  Alexander  Ramsay,  and  many  more 
with  whom  he  was  thrown  in  more  or  less  intimate 
relationship,  which  must  have  had  an  effect  upon  his 
character  and  tastes.  The  young  man  at  this  time 
must  have  shown  many  evidences  of  the  brilliant 
future  that  was  before  him.  Older  men  sought  his 
company  and  listened  to  his  ideas  and  views,  and  he 
was  an  acceptable  companion  in  their  walks  and  ex- 
cursions. His  college  mates  must  also  have  recog- 
nised his  talents  in  the  direction  of  science,  as  one 
of  his  companions,  after  watching  him  at  work  at  his 
insect  collection,  volunteered  the  prophecy,  which 
seemed  to  Darwin  preposterous,  that  one  day  he 
would  be  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  In  his  last 
year  at  college  the  young  naturalist  took  up  a  course 
of  scientific  reading,  which  had  no  little  influence 
in  determining  his  career.  Humboldt's  "  Personal 
Narrative  "  was  read  and  discussed,  exciting  in  his 
mind  a  desire  to  travel,  while  Herschel's  "  Introduc- 
tion to  the  Study  of  Natural  Philosophy  "  created  a 
strong  wish  to  indulge  in  original  investigation  and 
to  become  one  of  the  scientific  workers  of  the  world. 
These  works  so  interested  him  that  he  copied  ex- 
tracts which  he  read  to  his  friends  while  on  their 
expeditions,  and  Humboldt's  description  of  the 
beauties  of  Teneriffe  excited  so  intense  a  desire  to 
see  the  island  that  he  was  about  negotiating  for  a 
passage  when  another  plan  prevented. 


1 8  Charles  Darwin. 

Step  by  step  Darwin  advanced  in  scientific  learn- 
ing. The  vacation  days  were  devoted  to  beetle- 
collecting,  while  the  shooting  season  in  the  autumn, 
a  sport  to  which  he  was  passionately  attached,  as  has 
been  shown,  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  study  the 
larger  forms. 

In  his  last  college  days,  or  in  1831,  Henslow  had 
so  interested  him  in  geology  that  he  took  up  the 
study  and  began  a  systematic  investigation  of  the 
local  rocks.  He  examined  sections,  made  maps,  and 
finally,  in  the  summer  of  this  year,  undertook  a 
geological  tour  through  North  Wales  with  Professor 
Sedgwick,  which  proved  of  inestimable  value  in  later 
years. 

In  this  period  we  see  that  the  taste  and  love  for 
natural  science  are  uppermost  in  our  hero's  mind 
and  steadily  developing, — the  natural  preparation 
which  ultimately  culminated  in  producing  the  great- 
est scientist  of  the  age. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   YOUNG  NATURALIST. 

The  Beagle — An  Offer  of  Importance— The  Young  Naturalist — The 
Voyage — Powers  of  Observation — Cape  Verd  Islands — Tours 
of  Investigation — Dust-Showers — Wonderful  Phenomena — Geo- 
logical Studies — St.  Paul's  Rocks — Fernando  de  Noronha. 

N  1831  the  British  Govern- 
ment decided  to  send  out 
a  well  -  equipped  vessel 
to  complete  the  survey 
of  the  South  American 
coast,  begun  by  Captain 
Shaw  some  years  pre- 
vious. The  vessel  select- 
ed for  this  work  was  the 
Beagle,  a  six  -  gun  brig, 
and  Captain  Fitz  -  Roy 
of  the  Royal  Navy  was 
given  the  important  command.  An  enthusiast  in 
science,  Fitz-Roy  conceived  the  idea  of  taking  a 
naturalist  with  him  to  study  the  fauna  and  flora 
of  the  different  countries  he  might  visit,  and  in  his 
search  for  a  competent  person  he  wrote  to  Professor 
Henslow,  who,  in  turn,  made  the  offer  to  Charles 


2O  Charles  Darwin. 

Darwin,  who  had  just  graduated  from  Cambridge. 
The  latter  returned  from  a  geological  trip  to  find 
the  communication,  and  to  say  that  he  was  de- 
lighted but  faintly  expresses  it.  He  determined  to 
accept  should  his  father  not  object,  but,  unfor- 
tunately, the  latter  looked  with  great  disfavour  upon 
the  plan.  He  finally  said  that  he  would  give  his 
consent  if  his  son  could  find  a  sensible  person  who 
would  encourage  it. 

Young  Darwin  very  reluctantly  gave  up  what 
appeared  to  him  a  veritable  dream  of  promise  and 
an  opportunity  to  make  for  himself  a  scientific 
career.  As  good-fortune  would  have  it  he  men- 
tioned the  matter  to  his  uncle,  Josiah  Wedgwood, 
who  offered  to  undertake  the  role  of  one  sensible 
person,  and  as  a  result  the  elder  Darwin  relented 
and  the  position  was  accepted.  This  step  was  the 
beginning  of  a  new  epoch  in  the  life  of  the  young 
naturalist.  It  was,  as  he  says,  by  far  the  most  im- 
portant event  of  his  life,  and  in  a  letter  to  Captain 
Fitz-Roy  he  wrote  :  "  What  a  glorious  day  the  4th 
of  November  will  be  to  me  !  My  second  life  will 
then  commence,  and  it  shall  be  as  a  birthday  for  the 
rest  of  my  life." 

After  many  delays  attendant  upon  fitting  a  large 
ship  for  a  long  voyage,  the  Beagle  put  to  sea,  and  the 
expedition,  which  had  so  material  an  effect,  not  only 
upon  Darwin,  but  upon  preconceived  ideas  of  many 
natural-history  questions,  began. 

The  Beagle  was  what  we  now  term  a  barque,  and 
of  two  hundred  and  thirty-five  tons  burthen.  She 
represented  a  class  facetiously  known  as  coffins  by 


Marvellous  Perseverance. 


the  men,  from  the  fact  that  many  of  her  type  had 
gone  down  in  heavy  gales.  She  was  fairly  well 
equipped  ;  had  a  crew  of  thirty-five  men,  and  was 
fitted  with  all  the  conveniences  that  one  might 
expect  to  find  at  this  time.  Young  Darwin  went  as 
a  volunteer  ;  he  paid  his  own  expenses,  and  was  to 
mess  with  the  captain  ;  so  that  the  voyage  began 
under  pleasant  auspices  and  with  the  promised 
companionship  of  a  man  who  was  fully  interested  in 
science  and  in  complete  sympathy  with  his  aims  and 
ambitions. 

Darwin  was  at  this  time  in  the  full  flush  of  man- 
hood ;  in  every  way  a  delightful  companion,  and 
essentially  a  man  to  make  friends  and  keep  them. 
His  tender  and  lovable  nature,  consideration  for 
others,  and  evident  desire  to  share  with  all  the  hard- 
ships which  really  could  have  been  avoided,  did  not 
fail  to  create  for  him  the  warmest  friends  not  only 
on  shipboard,  but  wherever  he  went.  An  idea  of 
the  ship  life  has  been  given  by  Admiral  Lort  Stokes 
in  the  London  Times  of  April  25,  1883  : 

"  May  I  beg  a  corner  for  my  feeble  testimony  to 
the  marvellous  persevering  endurance  in  the  cause  of 
science  of  that  great  naturalist,  my  old  and  lost 
friend,  Mr.  Charles  Darwin,  whose  remains  are  so 
very  justly  to  be  honoured  with  a  resting-place  in 
Westminster  Abbey  ? 

"  Perhaps  no  one  can  better  testify  to  his  early  and 
most  trying  labours  than  myself.  We  worked  to- 
gether for  several  years  at  the  same  table  in  the 
poop-cabin  of  the  Beagle  during  her  celebrated  voy- 
age, he  with  his  microscope  and  myself  at  the  charts. 


22  Charles  Darwin. 


It  was  often  a  very  lively  end  of  the  little  craft,  and 
distressingly  so  to  my  old  friend,  who  suffered  greatly 
from  sea-sickness.  After  perhaps  an  hour's  work  he 
would  say  to  me,  '  Old  fellow,  I  must  take  the  hori- 
zontal for  it,'  that  being  the  best  relief  position  from 
ship  motion  ;  a  stretch  out  on  one  side  of  the  table 
for  some  time  would  enable  him  to  resume  his 
labours  for  a  while,  when  he  had  again  to  lie  down. 

"It  was  distressing  to  witness  this  early  sacrifice 
of  Mr.  Darwin's  health,  who  ever  afterwards  seriously 
felt  the  ill-effects  of  the  Beagle 's  voyage." 

In  following  our  hero  on  his  long  voyage  the 
reader  cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  with  two  things : 
his  remarkable  powers  of  observation,  and  the  care 
and  patience  with  which  he  made  his  investigations 
and  consequent  deductions ;  and  when  it  is  borne  in 
mind  that  the  investigator  was  still  a  very  young 
man  fresh  from  college,  the  nature  of  his  observations 
and  the  comprehensiveness  of  the  ground  covered 
will  appear  more  remarkable.  Darwin,  as  we  have 
seen  from  the  letter  of  Admiral  Stokes,  was  a  victim 
to  sea-sickness,  and,  curiously  enough,  it  clung  to  him 
with  unrelenting  pertinacity  during  the  entire  voy- 
age. After  an  uneventful  trip  the  Cape  Verd  Islands 
were  reached,  where  the  young  naturalist  for  the  first 
time  found  himself  in  a  tropical  field.  St.  Jago,  the 
largest  island  of  the  group,  was  the  first  examined  ; 
here  he  saw  actual  volcanic  effects,  barren  rocks, 
a  torrid  sun,  and  deep  groves  of  graceful  bananas 
and  cocoa-nuts.  The  barren  stretch  of  rocks  and  de- 
nuded portions  of  the  island  attracted  his  attention, 
and  investigation  showed  that  it  was  due  partly  to 


Awakens  the  Interest  of  Scientific  Men.    23 


human  intervention,  the  trees  having  been  cut  away 
and  destroyed,  thus  allowing  the  rains  to  wash  down 
quickly,  leaving  the  island  almost  sterile  in  parts. 

Many  expeditions  were  made  over  the  island  :  one 
to  the  town  of  Ribeira  Grande,  where  a  fine  old 
ruin,  a  cathedral  and  fort  were  found,  the  former 
containing  many  objects  of  interest  dating  back  to 
the  sixteenth  century.  The  dignitaries  of  the  church 
were  buried  here,  and  Darwin  noticed  one  tombstone 
which  bore  the  date  1497,  five  years  after  the  discov- 
ery of  America,  and  three  after  that  of  the  islands. 

The  atmosphere  of  St.  Jago  was,  as  a  rule,  hazy, 
and  here  our  young  naturalist  made  some  observa- 
tions which  created  much  interest  among  scientific 
men.  Investigation  showed  him  that  the  haze, 
which  often  obscured  the  mountains,  was  occasioned 
by  a  fall  of  dust  so  impalpable  and  fine  that  it 
rested  in  the  air  as  haze  or  a  very  light  fog.  Some 
of  this  was  collected  and  sent  back  to  Professor 
Ehrenberg  for  examination,  and  in  1845  Darwin 
forwarded  an  elaborate  paper  on  the  subject  to  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society.  The  dust  in  some 
places  was  offensive,  covering  every  thing  and  soil- 
ing the  sails  and  clothing  of  the  men. 

In  the  course  of  the  voyage  pieces  larger  than 
the  thousandth  of  an  inch  square  were  noticed. 
Whence  came  this  strange  shower?  was  the  ques- 
tion he  wished  to  solve,  and  the  problem  could  only 
be  answered  by  a  determination  of  the  elements 
which  composed  it.  This  Professor  Ehrenberg  was 
enabled  to  accomplish.  He  found  that  the  dust- 
shower  did  not  come  from  the  Cape  Verd  Islands 


24  Charles  Darwin. 

but  must  have  originated  thousands  of  miles  away. 
The  dust  was  made  up  to  a  certain  extent  of  infus- 
oria— minute  fossil  forms  that  could  be  readily  trans- 
ported by  the  wind,  and  Darwin,  by  the  identification 
of  the  fossils,  was  enabled  to  demonstrate  that  they 
had  been  borne  not  from  the  adjacent  coast  of  Africa, 
but  from  South  America,  several  thousand  miles 
distant.  The  shower  referred  to  here  was  estimated 
by  the  young  naturalist  to  have  a  breadth  of  sixteen 
hundred  miles  and  an  area  equal  to  one  million 
square  miles. 

These  dust-showers  produce  what  are  known  as 
blood-rains  in  Europe,  and  Professor  Ehrenberg  esti- 
mated that  in  one  shower  over  seven  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  pounds  of  matter  fell,  out  of  which 
ninety  thousand  pounds  consisted  of  the  remains  of 
minute  animal  forms. 

The  dust-shower  had  a  greater  significance  to  our 
young  naturalist  than  a  mere  phenomenon,  and 
here  we  see  how  his  every  discovery  or  observation 
resulted  in  a  deduction  of  value  to  the  scientific 
world.  If  dust,  and  such  large  particles,  could  be  car- 
ried vast  distances,  why  not  seeds  ?  and  he  assumed 
at  once  that  the  light  and  delicate  sporules  of 
cryptogamic  plants  could  be  transported  from  con- 
tinent to  continent, — a  thought  which  in  later  years 
he  elaborated  with  interesting  and  valuable  results. 

Darwin  made  his  first  foreign  geological  examina- 
tions at  Porto  Praya,  and  his  report  on  the  ancient 
volcanic  activity  of  the  island  shows  how  close  a 
student  he  was.  Here  he  first  observed  tropical 
marine  forms,  and  the  large  brown  sea-slug,  or  Aply- 


New  Discoveries   Concerning  the   Octopus.  25 

sia  particularly,  interested  him.  He  found  it  feeding 
on  the  sea-weed,  and  when  disturbed  it  emitted  the 
peculiar  purple  fluid  for  which  it  is  noted.  The 
pools  of  water  left  by  the  outgoing  tide  formed 
aquaria  of  more  than  ordinary  interest.  The  octo- 
pus was  the  subject  of  many  observations,  numbers 
of  which  were  seen  clinging  to  the  rocks  by  their 
eight  sucker-lined  arms,  or  dashing  across  the  pool, 
ejecting  the  cloud  of  ink  which  constitutes  a  part  of 
their  defence. 

The  young  naturalist  was  quick  to  note  their 
power  of  mimicry, — a  fact  in  this  and  other  animals 
that  was  dwelt  upon  in  later  years  by  himself  and 
Wallace.  He  noticed  that  they  changed  their  tints 
according  to  the  ground  over  which  they  passed, 
and  a  close  examination  showed  that  clouds  of  colour 
were  continually  passing  over  them,  varying  from 
hyacinth-red  to  chestnut-brown  in  tint. 

Darwin  was  probably  the  first  to  apply  a  galvanic 
battery  to  these  beautiful  creatures,  with  the  result 
that  the  part  touched  became  almost  black.  He 
noticed  that  they  changed  colour  under  all  circum- 
stances, whether  swimming  or  resting,  and  was  the 
first  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  ink  was 
used  as  a  means  of  concealing  the  direction  of  re- 
treat. One  cuttle-fish  in  this  natural  aquarium 
ejected  water  above  the  surface  from  a  hole  in 
which  it  lay  concealed,  and  he  suspected  that  it 
could  direct  its  aim  by  turning  its  tube  or  siphon  in 
a  given  direction.  Whether  this  is  true  or  not 
would  be  difficult  to  ascertain,  but  the  author  has 
seen  a  squid  force  its  stream  of  ink  a  foot  or  more 


26  Charles  Darwin. 

above  the  surface,  striking  an  inquisitive  observer 
full  in  the  face. 

Darwin  was  perhaps  the  first  also  to  observe 
that  the  octopus  is  luminous  at  times.  One  which 
he  kept  in  his  cabin  gleamed  with  a  slight  phospho- 
rescence, which  we  can  imagine  might  be  used  as  a 
decoy,  or  perhaps  to  menace  its  foes. 

In  February,  1831,  the  Beagle  sighted  the  famous 
St.  Paul's  Rocks,  one  of  the  most  desolate  spots  on 
the  globe,  consisting  of  a  few  rocks  five  hundred 
and  forty  miles  from  the  American  coast  and  three 
hundred  and  fifty  from  Fernando  de  Noronha.  The 
rocks  are  somewhat  difficult  to  find,  as  they  rear 
themselves  but  fifty  feet  above  the  sea  and  are 
but  little  over  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  circum- 
ference. From  a  distance  they  appear  white,  from 
the  constant  presence  of  vast  numbers  of  birds 
which  have  made  the  location  their  roosting-place  for 
generations. 

The  birds,  principally  the  noddy  and  tern,  were 
so  tame  that  any  number  could  have  been  killed  by 
hand.  They  laid  their  eggs  on  the  rocks  where  the 
sun  hatched  the  young.  Desolate  as  the  spot  was, 
warfare  existed  ;  the  parent  birds  provided  the 
young  with  small  fish  for  food,  the  flying-fish  being 
considered  an  especial  dainty ;  but  no  sooner  was 
it  placed  by  the  nest  than  the  young  naturalist, 
who  was  concealed  behind  some  rock,  saw  a  hand- 
somely mottled  crab — the  Grapsus — come  slowly 
up,  edging  along  in  an  innocent,  disinterested  fashion, 
then  suddenly  when  within  reach  seize  the  fish  and 
dash  away. 


SHARK-FISHING    AT   ST.    PAUL'S    ROCKS. 


Inception  of  his  Famous  Theory.          2  7 

In  this  island  robber  the  observer  must  have  found 
a  suggestion  for  his  famous  theory  of  the  struggle 
for  existence  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  -  The 
author  has  watched  a  similar  scene  in  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  where  the  Grapsus  would  attack  even  the 
birds.  Sir  W.  Symonds  states  that  he  has  witnessed 
the  same  at  St.  Paul's,  the  crab  dragging  young  birds 
away  to  devour  them. 

Darwin  found  little  of  interest  here  from  a  botani- 
cal standpoint,  not  even  a  single  plant  or  lichen 
appearing,  though  several  spiders,  flies,  moths,  and 
beetles  made  the  barren  rock  their  home.  If  St. 
Paul's  was  deficient  in  vegetation,  it  abounded  in 
marine  forms  of  interest,  the  vast  area  of  submerged 
rock,  with  its  sea-weed  masses,  affording  ample 
ground  for  fishes  of  infinite  variety,  while  sharks  were 
so  plentiful  that  it  was  a  constant  struggle  between 
them  and  the  men.  The  moment  an  edible  fish  was 
hooked  a  watchful  shark  rushed  at  it,  carrying  it 
away  before  it  could  be  taken  in,  this  occurring  so 
frequently  that  one  man  was  required  to  fight  these 
pirates  of  the  sea  while  another  hauled  in  the  fish. 

These  days  were  marked  by  indefatigable  energy 
on  the  part  of  the  young  naturalist.  When  not  in- 
vestigating or  peering  among  the  rocks  with  hammer 
or  collecting-glass  in  hand,  he  was  at  work  in  his 
cabin  studying  the  strange  animals  he  had  found, 
and  making  notes  in  his  log,  as  to  the  colour,  habits, 
and  the  thousand  and  one  points  of  interest  to  the 
lover  of  science. 

From  St.  Paul's  the  Beagle  bore  away  for  Fernando 
de  Noronha,  a  desolate  ancient  volcanic  rock  upon 


28  Charles  Darwin. 

which  Darwin  landed  with  great  difficulty,  owing  to 
the  heavy  sea,  and  found  to  be  completely  covered 
with  a  dense  jungle  hard  to  cross  or  penetrate.  It 
was  in  this  neighbourhood  that  the  young  naturalist 
underwent  the  experience  of  crossing  the  line.  Nep- 
tune came  aboard,  as  usual,  and  claimed  as  a  victim 
every  one  who  had  not  crossed  the  equator.  Dar- 
win submitted  with  his  accustomed  good-humour ; 
was  lathered  with  soft-soap  and  tar,  then  shaved  with 
a  saw,  and  finally  dumped  unceremoniously  into  a 
sail  full  of  water,  having  as  a  consolation  the  reflec- 
tion that  he  was  but  one  of  many  predecessors. 

On  the  last  day  of  February  the  Beagle  made 
Bahia,  where  Darwin  for  the  first  time  found  himself 
in  a  purely  Southern  country  with  a  wealth  of  tropi- 
cal verdure  on  every  hand.  The  ocean  teemed  with 
animal  life,  new  and  striking  to  his  eye,  while  it  was 
but  a  step  into  the  tropical  forest,  where  vegetation 
ran  wild  and  flourished  with  a  rank  exuberance  that 
he  had  never  dreamed  of.  In  his  Journal  he  penned 
the  following :  "  Delight  itself,  however,  is  a  weak 
term  to  express  the  feelings  of  a  naturalist  who,  for 
the  first  time,  has  wandered  by  himself  in  a  Brazilian 
forest.  The  elegance  of  the  grasses,  the  novelty  of 
the  parasitical  plants,  the  beauty  of  the  flowers,  the 
glossy  green  of  the  foliage,  but,  above  all,  the  gen- 
eral luxuriance  of  the  vegetation,  filled  me  with  ad- 
miration. A  most  paradoxical  mixture  of  sound  and 
silence  pervades  the  shady  parts  of  the  wood.  The 
noise  from  the  insects  is  so  loud  that  they  may  be 
heard  even  in  a  vessel  anchored  several  hundred 
yards  from  the  shore  ;  yet  within  the  recesses  of  the 


A    BRAZILIAN    COLLECTING-GROUND, 


At  Botofogo  Bay.  29 

forest  a  universal  silence  appears  to  reign.  To  a  per- 
son fond  of  natural  history,  such  a  day  as  this  brings 
with  it  a  deeper  pleasure  than  he  can  ever  hope  to 
experience  again." 

Here  .Darwin  divided  his  time  equally  with  ani- 
mate and  inanimate  forms.  We  find  him  to-day  at 
Botofogo  Bay  among  the  treasures  of  undescribed 
species,  not  merely  novelties,  but  forms  which  had 
never  been  seen  by  scientific  eyes  before.  We  can 
imagine  his  joy  as  he  compared  these  discoveries  at 
night  with  the  authorities  he  had  at  hand,  and  real- 
ised that  here  was  not  one  but  hundreds  of  creatures 
actually  undescribed.  He  compares  his  geological 
studies  here  to  gambling  in  their  excitement,  and  his 
reflections  upon  the  structure  of  the  rocks  were  far- 
reaching  and  valuable. 

It  is  difficult  to  determine  which  he  enjoyed  most, 
geology,  botany,  or  marine  zoology,  but  to  the  last 
he  gave  perhaps  the  most  attention.  Among  the 
curious  fishes  he  noticed  here  was  the  Diodon  anten- 
natus,  which  has  a  peculiar  habit  of  inflating  itself. 
Placing  one  in  a  boat,  flabby  and  flat,  it  immediately 
began  drawing  in  air,  all  the  while  assuming  a  more 
rotund  appearance,  until  finally  it  rocked  to  and  fro 
a  veritable  ball  covered  with  spines,  and  upon  being 
tossed  over  floated  upon  the  surface  like  a  balloon. 
The  author  has  often  tried  the  same  experiment 
with  the  Diodon  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  it  invariably 
ridding  itself  of  air  in  a  few  moments. 

Darwin  found  that  the  expanding  or  blowing-up 
process  was  produced  in  two  ways.  This  little  fish 
when  inflated  could  swim  feebly,  though  drawing  but 


CHAPTER  IV. 

IN    SOUTHERN    SEAS. 

The  Log-Book — Bahia — Singular  Appearance  of  the  Water — The 
Vampire  Bat — Slavery — Trips  into  the  Country — Rare  Col- 
lections— In  the  Brazilian  Forest — Shooting  Monkeys — The 
Click  of  a  Butterfly — Jumping  Spiders — Electrical  Displays — 
The  Plata. 


HE  sea  life  of  our  young 
hero  was  a  time  of  con- 
tinued activity.  Every 
moment  when  not  com- 
pletely incapacitated  by 
sea-sickness  was  devoted 
to  his  studies,  and  to  the 
natural  history  log-book 
which  he  was  keeping. 
From  the  stern  of  the 
vessel  he  swung  various 
kinds  of  nets  to  entrap  the 
smaller  forms  of  floating  or  pelagic  animal  life,  while 
fishing-lines  were  employed  to  capture  rare  and  un- 
known members  of  the  finny  tribe.  A  few  miles  from 
Bahia,  Darwin's  attention  was  called  to  the  strange 
31 


32  Charles  Darwin. 

appearance  of  the  water  through  which  the  Beagle 
was  sailing.  From  a  rich  opalescent-blue,  it  had 
changed  to  a  reddish-brown,  so  that  the  entire  ocean 
seemed  to  reflect  a  copper-bronze  hue,  weird  and 
uncanny  in  its  aspect.  Some  of  the  water,  upon 
being  placed  under  the  microscope,  appeared  to 
contain  large  masses  of  chopped  hay,  which  proved 
to  be  conferva  of  a  reddish  tint.  Some  of  the 
patches  covered  several  miles  in  extent,  entirely 
changing  the  tint  of  the  ocean.  Darwin  comments 
on  the  fact  as  remarkable,  that  these  minute  forms 
could  keep  together  in  the  lines  and  bands  that 
extended  so  many  miles  over  the  sea. 

The  colour  of  the  ocean,  from  this  and  similar 
causes,  seems  to  have  engaged  his  interest  at  various 
times.  On  the  coast  of  Chili  he  noticed  that  the 
water  was  a  dull-red  hue,  that  might  have  come 
from  some  muddy  river.  This  was  due,  he  found, 
to  some  minute  animal  which  was,  to  use  his  term, 
continually  exploding  or  throwing  out  a  mass  of 
dark-brown  granular  matter,  probably  eggs.  He 
noticed,  in  one  instance,  a  patch  of  these  animals 
that  covered  several  square  miles,  and  comments 
upon  the  vast  numbers  of  individuals  which  must 
have  made  up  the  concourse.  Later,  at  Tierra  del 
Fuego,  he  found  the  ocean  coloured  a  deep  red 
by  the  presence  of  innumerable  crustaceans,  while 
near  Galapagos  the  ship  forged  through  water  of  a 
rich  yellow,  due  to  another  source.  These  are  among 
the  causes  which  give  the  names  yellow,  white,  and 
red  to  the  various  seas. 

The  objective  point  of   the  Beagle,  after  leaving 


Intense  Disapproval  of  Slavery.  33 

Bahia,  was  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  while  here  Darwin 
went  on  an  extended  trip  into  the  interior,  going 
over  ground  which  no  naturalist  of  his  attainments 
had  passed  before.  The  country  was  rich  in  promise, 
and,  being  made  up  of  forest  and  clearing  and 
abounding  in  lakes  and  streams,  specimens  were 
everywhere  found.  The  birds  engaged  his  attention, 
especially  the  white  cranes  and  egrets,  while  in  the 
forests  he  was  particularly  attracted  by  the  luxuriant 
vegetation  and  the  wonderful  and  beautiful  flowering 
parasites. 

It  was  during  this  trip  that  Darwin  was  enabled  to 
give  the  world  definite  information  regarding  the 
vampire  bat.  In  England  and  other  countries  this 
creature  was  popularly  considered  a  monster  of 
enormous  size  that  sucked  the  blood  of  its  victims, 
often  destroying  them.  While  this  belief  did  not 
prevail  among  scientific  men,  the  latter  doubted  that 
the  vampire  fed  upon  blood  at  all. 

The  party  had  arrived  at  Engenhodo,  and  the 
worn  and  exhausted  animals  had  been  tied  out, 
when  one  of  the  men  noticed  a  small  bat  resting 
upon  the  withers  of  one  of  the  horses.  Darwin 
secured  it  while  in  the  act  of  sucking  blood  from 
the  animal,  so  determining  the  question.  The  bat 
was  the  one  known  to  science  as  the  vampire  or 
Desmodus  d '  orbignyi. 

Darwin,  as  might  have  been  expected  from  one  of 
his  nature,  had  views  upon  slavery  from  which  no 
extenuating  circumstances  could  swerve  him.  He 
was  radically  and  utterly  opposed  to  it  in  any  form, 
and  his  indignation  was  continually  aroused  by  the 


34  Charles  Darwin. 

evidences,  which  were  ever  apparent  during  this  trip, 
of  its  existence.  On  a  large  estate  to  which  he  was 
invited,  some  trouble  occurred  which  nearly  resulted 
in  the  sale  of  all  the  women  and  children  in  the 
public  auction  at  Rio.  He  refers  to  the  fact  that 
self-interest,  not  compassion,  was  the  sole  preventive 
to  what  he  considered  the  grossest  of  crimes.  In- 
deed, he  says :  "  I  do  not  believe  the  inhumanity 
of  separating  thirty  families  who  had  lived  together 
for  many  years  ever  occurred  to  the  owner,  yet  I 
pledge  myself  that  in  good-feeling  and  humanity  he 
was  the  superior  to  the  common  run  of  men.  It 
may  be  said  there  exists  no  limit  to  the  blindness  of 
interest  and  selfish  habit." 

So  outspoken  was  our  hero  upon  this  subject  that 
it  was  the  cause,  later,  of  an  open  rupture  between 
himself  and  his  friend  Fitz-Roy.  Fitz-Roy  not  only 
defended  slavery,  but  praised  it,  which  led  to  so 
indignant  a  response  from  the  young  man  that  what 
may  be  said  to  be  the  entire  future  of  Darwin  as  a 
scientist  hung  in  the  balance.  Fitz-Roy  apologised, 
and  requested  Darwin  to  overlook  his  offensive  re- 
marks, and  the  breach  was  healed,  but  our  hero 
never  overcame  his  repugnance  for  the  institut- 
ion, and  would,  in  America,  have  been  a  rigid 
Abolitionist. 

During  the  trip  in  the  country  back  of  Rio,  he 
made  many  observations,  which  may  be  found  in  his 
later  works  on  botanical  subjects.  He  noted  the 
prodigious  growth,  the  binding  together  of  the  forest 
trees  by  a  maze  of  lianes,  and  here  he  made  his 
first  important  studies  with  the  sensitive  plants, 


An  Interesting  Experiment.  35 

noting  the  strange  effects  occasioned  in  the  mi- 
mosae,  as  they  drooped  their  sensitive  petioles 
when  disturbed.  From  the  forest  he  returned  to 
the  shores  of  Botofogo  Bay,  where  he  devoted  him- 
self to  a  study  of  the  invertebrate  animals  which 
abounded  there.  The  Planarian  worms  were  a  con- 
stant source  of  interest,  specimens  found  near  here 
possessing  a  singular  tenacity  to  life  even  when  the 
body  appeared  dead  or  lifeless,  the  mouth  parts  pro- 
truding as  he  touched  them  with  his  forceps,  showing 
a  high  state  of  irritation  and  vitality.  Darwin  dis- 
covered twelve  species  of  these  interesting  creatures, 
which  he  fully  describes  in  the  "  Annals  of  Natural 
History."  One  of  his  experiments  was  to  cut  a 
planarian  in  two  parts  and  devote  a  certain  amount 
of  time  to  an  examination  of  the  several  members. 
For  nearly  a  month  he  watched  a  marvellous  trans- 
formation, namely,  the  formation  of  two  separate 
individuals  out  of  the  single  worm. 

The  forest  in  which  these  worms  were  found 
abounded  in  game,  and  with  an  old  priest  and  a 
native  Darwin  often  wandered  far  from  the  ocean. 
Here  he  first  witnessed  the  skill  with  which  the 
natives  employed  the  knife  to  cut  vines  and  creeping 
plants.  So  clever  had  they  become  that  it  was  used 
as  the  American  Indians  do  the  tomahawk,  the  blade 
being  thrown  a  long  distance  with  unerring  skill. 

Ring-tailed  or  prehensile  monkeys  were  common, 
and  two  of  the  bearded  variety  occasioned  them  no 
little  trouble  to  capture.  Though  shot  dead,  they 
still  clung  to  the  limbs  of  a  lofty  tree,  and  the  latter 
had  to  be  cut  down  to  obtain  them — an  arduous  and 


36  Charles  Darwin. 

laborious  operation.  The  forest  afforded  constant 
opportunities  for  observing  the  wonders  of  phospho- 
rescent insects,  the  brilliant  fire-fly  (Lampyris  occiden- 
talis)  illumining  the  darkest  recesses  with  its  light. 
Darwin's  investigations  with  these  insects  showed 
that  the  light  was  most  intense  when  they  were  irri- 
tated ;  where  the  skin  was  injured  the  light  was 
bright,  while  other  portions  gave  no  evidence  of 
phosphorescence.  Decapitating  one  he  found  that 
the  light  was  still  uninterrupted  though  not  as  bril- 
liant, and  in  a  specimen  which  he  killed  the  strange 
light  gleamed  for  an  entire  day. 

He  collected  the  various  forms  of  these  insects,  the 
larvae  and  adults,  and  made  a  series  of  experiments 
that  have  ever  been  of  value  to  those  who  have  made 
them  a  study.  The  larvae  he  kept  alive  by  feeding 
them  upon  raw  meat,  and  while  watching  them,  he 
learned  that  they  used  their  tails  as  suckingorgans,and 
that  the  latter  contained  saliva  glands  which  were 
employed  in  a  singular  manner.  Thus  when  the  larva 
felt  the  pangs  of  hunger,  it  reached  its  tail  over  and 
deposited  upon  its  mouth,  or  the  food  it  was  prepar- 
ing to  eat,  a  drop  of  saliva. 

The  elater,  or  PyropJiorus  luminosus,  was  the  most 
conspicuous  luminous  insect  here,  abounding  in  vast 
numbers  and  dashing  through  the  gloomy  recesses  of 
the  forest,  often  followed  by  an  apparent  blaze  of  light. 

Darwin  discovered  during  this  expedition  the  true 
explanation  of  the  leaping  powers  of  the  elater, 
finding  that  it  was  due  to  the  elasticity  of  the  spine, 
which  threw  the  insect  whirling  into  the  air  like  a 
veritable  spring. 


Rare   Collection  of  Insects.  37 

That  these  woods  and  their  immediate  surround- 
ings impressed  our  young  hero  deeply,  we  can  readily 
see,  as  he  frequently  refers  to  the  beauties  and  wealth 
of  the  tropical  foliage,  and  in  one  instance  he  com- 
pares the  effect  to  the  "  gayest  scenery  of  the  opera- 
house  or  the  great  theatres." 

While  in  Brazil,  Darwin  formed  the  finest  collec- 
tion of  insects  ever  made  in  this  country,  and 
remembering  his  youthful  fondness  for  beetle  col- 
lecting, his  pleasure  and  enthusiasm  can  be  appreci- 
ated. In  his  notes  on  this  work,  we  see  evidences  of 
the  theories  that  he  formulated  in  later  life.  He  was 
impressed  with  the  fact  that  the  large  butterflies 
seemed  highly  coloured  to  conform  with  the  gorgeous 
foliage  and  flowers  of  their  home. 

The  beautiful  Papilio  feronia  attracted  his  especial 
attention,  and  he  made  a  careful  study  of  its  pecul- 
iarities, which  might  well  be  an  example  to  young 
naturalists.  He  noticed  that  it  invariably  alighted 
with  its  head  downward,  with  wings  extended  in'a 
horizontal  plane,  instead  of  being  folded  vertically. 
When  it  moved,  instead  of  edging  off  it  ran,  using  its 
legs  nimbly  for  the  purpose,  surprising  the  young 
naturalist  with  its  agility. 

While  watching  this  interesting  creature,  Darwin 
discovered  that  it  made  a  noise,  and  thus  was  the 
first  to  listen,  if  not  to  the  voice  of  the  butterfly,  to  a 
sound  that  is  used  for  a  similar  purpose.  He  no- 
ticed the  noise  when  two  butterflies  were  chasing 
each  other,  a  slight  resonant  clicking  coming  to  his 
ear,  distinctly  audible  twenty  yards  away.  He 
describes  it  as  resembling  a  "  toothed  wheel  passing 


38  Charles  Darwin. 

under  a  spring  catch."  Later,  when  examined,  the 
butterfly  was  found  to  possess  a  drum,  the  organ 
being  found,  according  to  Mr.  Doubleday,  at  the  base 
of  the  fore  wings,  between  the  costal  nervure  and 
the  sub-costal.  With  the  beetles  Darwin  was  disap- 
pointed :  there  were  not  so  many  large  and  attractive 
forms  as  he  had  expected,  though  small  ones  existed 
in  vast  numbers,  and  we  find  him  expressing  sur- 
prise at  the  absence  of  carnivorous  beetles  when  the 
hot  tropical  country  is  the  home  of  the  carnivora  or 
flesh-eaters  among  larger  animals.  Bees  and  wasps 
were  so  abundant  that  the  thought  was  suggested 
that  perhaps  they  supplied  the  place  of  carnivorous 
insects. 

Many  hours  were  spent  in  watching  the  ant  armies 
traversing  the  wood,  and  experimenting  to  test  their 
intelligence  and  bravery.  The  habits  of  the  wasp 
were  a  constant  source  of  pleasure  to  him.  In  the 
corner  of  a  veranda  a  certain  species  had  made  cell- 
like  homes  of  clay ;  these  they  stuffed  full  of  insects 
of  various  kinds,  which  had  been  paralysed  by  the 
sting  of  the  wasp,  and  while  helpless  the  eggs  of  the 
latter  were  deposited  in  them,  where  they  ultimately 
hatched  out,  the  grub  obtaining  its  food  from  the 
comatose  victim. 

The  habits  of  the  larger  wasps  were  also  closely 
studied,  and  the  bull-dog-  or  bloodhound-like  tenacity 
of  the  creatures,  now  so  familiar,  observed  carefully 
for  the  first  time. 

Darwin  noticed  that  the  number  of  spiders  here 
was  greater,  in  proportion  to  other  insects,  than  in 
England.  The  jumping  spiders  particularly  inter- 


Examination  of  the  Spider.  39 


ested  him  ;  their  leaps  upon  their  prey  reminding 
him  of  the  tiger  in  pursuit  of  its  victim.  Over 
every  pathway  in  the  forest  he  found  a  strong  elastic 
yellow  web  of  a  spider,  allied  to  the  Epeira  clavipes, 
and  note  how  carefully  he  examined  them !  In 
every  web  was  found  a  small  parasitic  form,  which 
lived  here  undisturbed  by  its  giant  ally,  feeding  upon 
the  minute  insects  entrapped, — the  crumbs  from  the 
big  spider's  table.  The  young  naturalist  here  ob- 
served a  remarkable  instance  of  defence  on  the  part 
of  a  spider.  As  he  approached,  the  little  insect 
imparted  to  its  web  a  swinging  movement,  which 
increased  so  rapidly  that  in  a  few  moments  the 
cunning  insect  was  invisible,  or  nearly  so,  from  the 
rapidity  of  its  motions.  This  spider  had  a  most 
skilful  method  of  disposing  of  its  victims.  The 
moment  a  wasp  or  fly  became  entangled,  the  Epeira 
held  it  at  arm's  length,  and,  in  some  miraculous  way, 
whirled  it  over  and  over,  winding  it  up  in  a  broad 
band  of  threads,  taken  from  its  spinners,  so  that  in  a 
few  moments  the  captive  appeared  to  be  encased  in 
a  cocoon,  and  then  helpless  was  killed  by  the  deadly 
jaws  of  the  monster. 

To  show  the  virulence  of  the  poison,  Darwin 
found  that  half  a  minute  was  sufficient  to  kill  a  large 
wasp. 

On  July  5,  1832,  the  Beagle  left  Rio,  sailing 
for  the  Plata.  In  the  mouth  of  the  latter  he  studied 
the  porpoise,  watching  its  movements  across  the 
bow  as  the  vessel  rushed  along  at  full  speed.  Seals 
and  penguins  were  present  in  great  numbers,  and 
were  so  demonstrative  at  night  that  the  officer  of 


40  Charles  Darwin. 

the  deck  thought  the  noises  proceeded  from  the 
shore. 

The  Plata  is  somewhat  noted  for  its  electrical  dis- 
plays, and  the  young  naturalist  was  witness  to  some 
remarkable  phenomena.  The  tip  of  the  masts  and 
ends  of  the  booms  became  illuminated  with  balls  of 
fire,  while  the  vane  upon  the  topmast  looked  as 
though  it  had  been  rubbed  with  phosphorus.  The 
ocean  itself  seemed  to  vie  with  the  atmosphere  here 
in  its  phosphorescent  displays,  and  gleamed  with 
lights  so  brilliant  that  Darwin  could  trace  every- 
where the  movements  of  seals  and  penguins,  and 
even  distinguish  the  forms  as  they  were  outlined  by 
the  mysterious  phosphorescent  light.  Accompany- 
ing these  displays  was  an  electrical  storm,  which 
caused  vivid  flashes  of  lightning  to  play  about  the  ship. 

The  Beagle  had  now  reached  the  first  point  of  her 
projected  work,  which  was  to  survey  the  coast  of 
South  America  from  the  Plata  south,  an  undertaking 
which  it  was  estimated  would  take  two  years  to 
accomplish. 

Darwin  went  ashore,  and  made  his  headquarters  at 
Maldonado, — a  rich  collecting  district  from  a  zoologi- 
cal standpoint.  Collecting  had  its  drawbacks  here, 
as,  a  few  days  previous,  a  man  had  been  found 
murdered,  hard  by  a  cross  which  formed  the  record 
of  a  similar  crime.  A  guard,  then,  seemed  necessary, 
and  perhaps  no  naturalist  ever  went  forth  after  bugs, 
birds,  and  reptiles  with  so  singular  an  escort.  To 
see  the  cavalcade  approaching,  one  might  well  have 
supposed  that  men,  not  simple  specimens,  were  the 
object.  The  troop  consisted  of  a  dozen  or  more 


i : 


Extreme  Ignorance  of  the  Natives.        41 


horses,  the  men  in  charge  being  armed  with  long 
sabres  and  pistols.  The  equipment  was  unusual  but 
effective,  as  a  fine  and  representative  collection  of 
the  fauna  of  the  locality  was  made  by  the  inde- 
fatigable naturalist. 

The  human  inhabitants  of  this  region  possessed  an 
interest  to  our  hero,  due  to  their  extreme  ignorance. 
They  looked  upon  him  as  a  necromancer,  and  his 
fame  spread  far  and  near.  The  rich  who  could  not 
visit  him  sent  for  him,  and  begged  that  he  would 
exhibit  the  compass  by  which  he  made  his  way  over 
their  country.  They  could  not  understand  it,  and 
their  ignorance  was  a  continual  surprise  to  the  visi- 
tor. He  found  that  they  did  not  know  the  shape  of 
the  earth,  or  anything  of  geography,  while  the 
matches  which  he  carried  and  ignited  by  biting 
excited  the  liveliest  curiosity.  Upon  one  occasion 
an  entire  family,  with  a  number  of  friends,  gathered 
to  witness  this  performance,  which  Darwin  good- 
naturedly  repeated.  Indeed  he  was  a  mystery  to 
the  entire  people.  Why  he  washed  his  face  in  the 
morning,  allowed  his  beard  to  grow  aboard  ship  and 
removed  it  when  ashore,  his  handling  snakes,  and 
apparent  knowledge  of  those  which  were  venomous, 
were  all  features  that  caused  him  to  be  looked  upon 
with  suspicion  and  wonder. 

At  Maldonado  Darwin  first  met  the  Gauchos,  the 
men  who  correspond  to  the  cowboys  of  America, 
— a  wild,  daring  race  that,  with  their  enormous 
clanking  spurs,  sharp  daggers,  and  picturesque  cos- 
tumes, presented  a  striking  spectacle  as  they  dashed 
away  upon  their  wild  horses.  It  was  here  that  the 


Charles  Dai"win. 


naturalist  first  encountered  the  rhea,  the  great  bird 
that  is  the  ostrich  of  South  America.  They  were  so 
tame  that  he  approached  within  a  few  yards  of  a 
flock,  when  they  turned,  spread  their  great  wings, 
and  sped  along  like  the  wind.  Putting  his  horse  to 
its  greatest  speed  to  keep  up  with  them,  Darwin  en- 
joyed the  novelty  of  a  race  with  thirty  or  more  of 
the  huge  birds,  but  even  then  they  left  him  far 
behind,  with  an  ease  that  was  surprising. 

The  Gauchos  employed  a  weapon  that  so  aroused 
the  particular  attention  of  our  hero  that  he  en- 
deavoured to  learn  its  use,  finally  succeeding  after  a 
varied  experience.  The  weapon  was  called  the 
bolas,  and  consisted  of  two. or  three  balls  of  stone 
bound  in  leather  and  connected  to  a  common 
centre  by  thongs  of  the  same.  In  using  it  the 
natives  held  one  ball  in  the  hand  and  whirled  the 
others  about  in  a  rotary  motion,  then  let  go,  the 
victim  being  completely  wound  up  in  the  tangle  that 
ensued  and  falling  helpless  to  the  ground.  The 
bolas  are  of  different  sizes  and  material,  according  to 
the  game,  large  balls  being  used  for  the  ostrich  and 
small  ones  for  lesser  forms. 

Darwin  soon  became  an  expert  thrower  of  the 
bolas  on  foot,  but  one  day,  in  essaying  a  throw  on 
horseback,  by  some  accident  he  hurled  one  of  the 
balls  about  the  leg  of  his  own  horse,  which  jerked 
the  other  balls  from  his  hand,  which  went  whirling 
about  his  charger,  who  stood  for  a  moment  com- 
pletely wound  up.  The  Gauchos  found  much  amuse- 
ment in  this,  and  laughed  heartily  at  his  discomfiture, 
having  never  before  seen  a  bolas  thrower  catch  himself. 


Studies  at  Maldonado.  43 


Among  the  birds  of  this  locality  the  South  Ameri- 
can quail  (Nothura  major]  attracted  his  notice  by 
its  numbers.  He  found  that  the  natives  were  in  the 
habit  of  catching  them  by  walking  around  them  in  a 
circle,  gradually  drawing  nearer  and  nearer,  the  birds 
becoming  confused  and  huddling  together,  until 
finally  they  could  be  knocked  over  with  the  hand. 

Another  method  was  employed  by  the  children, 
and  consisted  in  walking  around  them  on  a  slow 
horse  and  throwing  a  small  lasso  over  them.  In  this 
simple  manner,  says  Darwin,  a  child  would  take 
thirty  or  forty  birds  a  day. 

Darwin's  studies  at  Maldonado  were  carefully 
made,  and  as  a  result  he  had  a  large  collection 
representing  the  fauna  of  the  place.  He  took  eighty 
species  of  birds  here,  nine  species  of  snakes,  and 
many  of  the  large  mammals.  In  hunting  the  deer 
he  found  that  it  was  easily  approached  on  foot,  but 
fled  like  the  wind  before  a  horse.  This  was  due  to 
the  fact  that  every  one  rode  here,  and  the  animals 
did  not  recognise  an  enemy  in  the  unmounted  hun- 
ter. Darwin  took  advantage  of  this,  and  assuming 
strange  positions  so  aroused  the  curiosity  of  the  deer 
that  he  could  pick  them  off  with  ease. 

His  collection  included  eight  kinds  of  gnawers, 
but,  best  of  all,  the  king  of  the  tribe,  the  great  capy- 
bara  or  Hydrochcerus,  This  singular  animal  he  found 
in  the  Maldonado  streams  in  large  numbers,  which 
offered  him  ample  opportunities  to  observe  its  ways 
and  habits.  One,  which  he  shot  at  Monte  Video, 
weighed  nearly  one  hundred  pounds.  They  were 
extremely  tame,  allowing  him  to  approach  within 


44  Charles  Darwin. 

several  yards,  when  they  would  run  into  the  water 
and  dive,  coming  up  to  utter  their  singular  bark. 
Their  tameness  he  ascribed  to  the  fact  that  the 
jaguar  had  almost  disappeared  from  that  locality, 
and  the  Gauchos  rarely  hunted  them. 

In  the  woods  of  Maldonado  Darwin  often  heard 
curious  noises,  arising  apparently  from  the  ground, 
and  resembling  a  bark  or  grunt.  Investigation  re- 
sulted in  finding  a  curious  little  subterranean  and 
nocturnal  animal,  the  Tucutuco.  Many  of  them 
were  blind  or  partly  so,  and  we  find  the  naturalist 
speculating  on  the  subject.  "Lamarck,"  he  says, 
"  would  have  been  delighted  with  this  fact  had  he 
known  it,  when  speculating  (probably  with  more 
truth  than  usual  with  him)  on  the  gradually  acquired 
blindness  of  the  Aspalax,  a  gnawer  living  under- 
ground, and  of  the  proteus,  a  reptile  living  in  dark 
caverns  filled  with  water ;  in  both  of  which  animals 
the  eye  is  in  an  almost  rudimentary  state,  and  is 
covered  by  a  tendinous  membrane  and  skin.  In  the 
common  mole  the  eye  is  extraordinarily  small,  but 
perfect,  though  many  anatomists  doubt  whether  it  is 
connected  with  the  true  optic  nerve ;  its  vision  must 
certainly  be  imperfect,  though  probably  useful  to  the 
animal  when  it  leaves  its  burrow.  In  the  Tucutuco, 
which  I  believe  never  comes  to  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  the  eye  is  rather  larger,  but  often  rendered 
blind  and  useless,  though  without  apparently  causing 
any  inconvenience  to  the  animal ;  no  doubt  Lamarck 
would  have  said  that  the  tucutuco  is  now  passing 
into  the  state  of  the  Aspalax  and  Proteus." 

We  observe  here  that  the  young  naturalist  had 


(•'• 


Singular  Birds  of  Maldonado.  45 


already  begun  to  think  seriously  of  the  great  prob- 
lems to  which  he  devoted  his  life  in  later  years. 

Among  the  birds  at  Maldonado  Darwin  noticed 
one  resembling  a  starling,  which  had  a  peculiar  habit 
of  sitting  upon  the  backs  of  horses  or  cattle  and 
pluming  its  feathers.  It  was  interesting  to  him  for 
another  reason  :  Azara  had  ascribed  to  it  the  cuckoo- 
like  habit  of  depositing  its  eggs  in  the  nests  of  other 
birds.  Darwin  found  that  the  same  was  true  of  the 
South  American  ostrich,  which  laid  its  eggs  in  the 
nests  of  others  indiscriminately. 

Of  all  the  singular  birds  seen  here  the  Polyborus 
clianiango  was  perhaps  the  most  interesting.  It  was 
a  carrion  feeder,  and  Darwin  often  saw  several  within 
the  ribs  of  the  skeleton  of  a  horse.  They  were  ex- 
tremely savage,  pouncing  upon  dogs,  seizing  rabbits 
as  they  came  from  their  holes,  and  even  tearing  the 
leather  from  the  rigging  of  the  ship  in  what  appeared 
mere  destructiveness.  One  was  seen  to  carry  off  a 
heavy  bolas,  while  another  seized  a  large  glazed  hat 
belonging  to  a  sailor  and  bore  it  nearly  a  mile  from 
the  ship  ;  a  small  compass  in  a  red  morocco  case 
shared  the  same  fate,  and  was  not  recovered. 

As  we  have  seen,  Darwin  found  the  mouth  of  the 
Plata  famous  for  its  electrical  disturbances,  and  in  the 
sand-banks  here  he  discovered  some  curious  evidences 
of  the  frequency  of  the  bolts.  Protruding  from  the 
sand  heaps  were  numerous  vitrified  and  siliceous  tubes 
formed  as  the  lightning  entered  the  loose  sand. 
The  sand  was  continually  being  blown  about  by  the 
wind,  thus  exposing  the  tubes  ;  similar  ones  in  other 
places  have  been  traced  for  thirty  feet. 


46  Charles  Darwin. 

Darwin  found  that  the  internal  surface  was  smooth 
and  completely  vitrified.  The  walls  of  the  tube 
were  about  the  twentieth  of  an  inch  in  thickness. 
The  most  remarkable  feature  about  this  was  the 
number  of  tubes  in  so  restricted  an  area.  The  en- 
tire region  bore  a  bad  name.  In  a  single  electrical 
storm  thirty-seven  places  were  struck  in  the  city  of 
Buenos  Ayres  and  nineteen  persons  killed. 

In  referring  to  this  Darwin  says :  "  I  am  inclined 
to  suspect  that  thunder-storms  are  very  common 
near  the  mouths  of  great  rivers.  Is  it  not  possible 
that  the  mixture  of  large  bodies  of  fresh  and  salt 
water  may  disturb  the  electrical  equilibrium  ?  Even 
during  our  occasional  visits  to  this  part  of  South 
America,  we  heard  of  a  ship,  two  churches,  and  a 
house  having  been  struck.  Both  the  church  and  the 
house  I  saw  shortly  afterwards :  the  house  belonged 
to  Mr.  Hood,  the  consul-general  at  Monte  Video. 
Some  of  the  effects  were  curious:  the  paper,  for 
nearly  a  foot  on  each  side  of  the  line  where  the  bell- 
wires  had  run,  was  blackened.  The  metal  had  been 
fused,  and  although  the  room  was  about  fifteen  feet 
high,  the  globules,  dropping  on  the  chairs  and  furni- 
ture, had  drilled  in  them  a  chain  of  minute  holes. 
A  part  of  the  wall  was  shattered  as  if  by  gunpowder, 
and  the  fragments  had  been  blown  off  with  force  suf- 
ficient to  dent  the  wall  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
room.  The  frame  of  a  looking-glass  was  blackened, 
and  the  gilding  must  have  been  volatilised,  for  a 
smelling-bottle,  which  stood  on  the  chimney-piece, 
was  coated  with  bright  metallic  particles,  which  ad- 
hered as  firmly  as  if  they  had  been  enamelled." 


CHAPTER  V. 

IN   THE   LAND    OF   THE   SACRED    TREE. 

The  Rio  Negro — Trips  into  the  Interior — The  Sacred  Tree — Super- 
stition of  Natives— Salt  Lakes— Bahia  Blanca— A  Tomb  of 
Giants — The  Mylodon  Darwinii — The  Armadillo — Hibernation 
— Careful  Work — War— General  Rosas — Brutal  Natives — Skilled 
Equestrians. 

ROM  Maldonado  the  Bea- 
gle sailed  south,  arriving 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio 
Negro  in  August,  1833. 
Here  Darwin  found  a 
newer  and  more  interest- 
ing field  for  work,  and 
applied  himself  assidu- 
ously to  the  investigation 
of  the  local  fauna  and 
flora.  Nothing  escaped 
his  watchful  eye,  and  he 
not  only  collected  but  made  careful  observations 
regarding  the  habits  of  the  various  animals,  all  of 
which  were  recorded  in  the  growing  log-book,  which 
was  to  prove  such  a  treasure-house  of  zoological  facts 
in  the  future. 


47 


48  Charles  Darwin. 


He  made  his  headquarters  for  his  land  expedi- 
tions at  El  Carmen,  about  eighteen  miles  up  the 
river,  a  town  built  on  the  face  of  a  high  cliff,  some  of 
the  houses  or  homes  of  the  natives  being  excavated 
in  its  face.  One  of  the  first  objects  of  interest  to  at- 
tract his  attention  was  a  famous  salt  lake.  During 
the  rainy  season  it  was  a  basin  of  the  strongest  brine, 
but  when  the  dry  time  came,  and  the  hot  summer 
sun  poured  down,  the  water  evaporated,  leaving  a 
pure  white  patch  of  gleaming  salt,  in  remarkable 
contrast  to  the  surrounding  verdure. 

This  lake  was  found  to  be  two  miles  in  length, 
with  a  layer  of  salt  ranging  in  thickness  from  several 
inches  at  the  border  to  as  many  feet  in  the  centre. 
The  interest  of  the  explorer  naturally  centred  in 
the  life  of  the  lake,  and  he  was  repaid  by  the  discov- 
ery of  a  worm  that  existed  in  sufficient  quantities  to 
attract  flamingoes  here  to  feed.  "  Well  may  we 
affirm,"  writes  Darwin  in  his  log-book,  "  that  every 
part  of  the  world  is  habitable !  Whether  lakes  of 
brine,  or  those  subterranean  ones  hidden  beneath 
volcanic  mountains — warm  mineral  springs — the  wide 
expanse  and  depths  of  the  ocean — the  upper  regions 
of  the  atmosphere,  and  even  the  surface  of  perpetual 
snow — all  support  organic  beings." 

During  a  trip  to  the  Colorado  River  with  a  band 
of  Gauchos  Darwin  came  upon  the  sacred  tree,  about 
which  so  much  has  been  said  and  written,  it  having 
been  described  as  taking  up  foreign  objects  upon  its 
branches.  The  tree  is  a  low  thorny  variety,  not  com- 
mon, yet  conspicuous  on  the  plains  by  its  peculiar 
appearance.  As  the  party  approached,  the  tree  was 


A  Tomb  of  Giants.  49 


seen  to  be  leafless,  the  branches  being  covered  by 
hundreds  of  objects,  the  offerings  of  the  Indians, 
who  reverenced  it  as  the  altar  of  Walleechu,  such  as 
cigars,  pieces  of  cloth,  bits  of  meat,  strings,  fruit, 
and  a  variety  of  singular  articles.  Around  the  tree 
was  a  circle  of  bones,  the  sacrifices  of  horses,  which 
the  Indians  had  made.  The  Gauchos,  though  igno- 
rant, as  we  have  seen,  looked  with  contempt  upon 
the  tree,  and  said  that  they  had  often  witnessed  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Indians,  waiting  until  the  latter 
had  disappeared,  to  help  themselves  to  such  articles 
as  possessed  any  value. 

The  young  naturalist  here  first  encountered  the 
agouti,  and  he  notes  it  as  a  singular  fact  that,  while 
in  1670  the  animal  was  found  much  farther  to  the 
south,  it  now  occupied  a  restricted  area. 

From  Bahia  Blanca,  which  was  reached  in  the 
latter  part  of  August,  Darwin  travelled  overland  to 
Buenos  Ayres.  The  former  was  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting localities  he  had  visited,  as  here  he  discov- 
ered a  veritable  tomb  of  the  lost  races  of  a  former 
age.  Upon  the  beach,  within  an  area  of  two  hun- 
dred yards,  he  took  out,  after  no  little  labour,  the  re- 
mains of  nine  large  quadrupeds.  They  included  the 
megatherium — a  sloth-like  animal,  the  megalonyx — 
an  allied  form,  the  scelidotherium — an  animal  as  large 
as  a  rhinoceros,  with  a  head,  according  to  Professor 
Owen,  who  described  the  remains,  jesembling  that 
of  the  Cape  ant-eater,  or  the  armadillos.  Besides 
these,  he  found  another  giant,  which  when  described 
was  named  after  him,  Mylodon  Darwinii ;  also  a 
gigantic  armadillo,  with  a  colossal  armour,  separated 


50  Charles  Darwin. 


into  rings  ;  and  finally  a  toxodon — a  creature  as  large 
as  an  elephant,  but  related  to  the  rats  and  mice  and 
other  gnawers. 

These  gigantic  remains  aroused  the  greatest  en- 
thusiasm in  the  young  naturalist,  and  he  had  the 
satisfaction  of  being  the  first  to  present  to  English 
scientists  specimens  from  this  locality.  He  pictured 
the  appearance  of  the  huge  animals  when  alive,  and 
with  Professor  Owen  later  gave  graphic  descriptions 
of  them.  He  says  :  "  The  great  size  of  the  bones  of 
the  megatheroid  animals,  including  the  megatherium, 
megalonyx,  scelidotherium,  and  mylodon,  is  truly 
wonderful.  The  habits  of  life  of  these  animals  were 
a  complete  puzzle  to  naturalists,  until  Professor 
Owen  lately  solved  the  problem  with  remarkable 
ingenuity.  The  teeth  indicate,  by  their  simple 
structure,  that  these  megatheroid  animals  lived  on 
vegetable  food,  and  probably  on  the  leaves  and 
small  twigs  of  trees ;  their  ponderous  forms,  and 
great,  strong,  curved  claws  seem  so  little  adapted 
for  locomotion,  that  some  eminent  naturalists  have 
actually  believed  that,  like  the  sloths,  to  which  they 
are  intimately  related,  they  subsisted  by  climbing 
back  downwards  on  trees,  and  feeding  on  the  leaves. 
It  was  a  bold,  not  to  say  preposterous,  idea  to  con- 
ceive even  antediluvian  trees  with  branches  strong 
enough  to  bear  animals  as  large  as  elephants.  Pro- 
fessor Owen,  with  far  more  probability,  believes  that, 
instead  of  climbing  on  the  trees,  they  pulled  the 
branches  down  to  them,  and  tore  up  the  smaller 
ones  by  the  roots,  and  so  fed  on  the  leaves.  The 
colossal  breadth  and  weight  of  their  hinder  quarters, 


The  South  American  Ostrich.  51 

which  can  hardly  be  imagined  without  having  been 
seen,  become,  on  this  view,  of  obvious  service,  instead 
of  being  an  incumbrance  ;  their  apparent  clumsiness 
disappears.  With  their  great  tails  and  their  huge 
heels  firmly  fixed  like  a  tripod  on  the  ground,  they 
could  freely  exert  the  full  force  of  their  most  power- 
ful arms  and  great  claws.  Strongly  rooted,  indeed, 
must  that  tree  have  been  which  could  have  resisted 
such  force  !  The  mylodon,  however,  was  furnished 
with  a  long  extensile  tongue  like  that  of  the  giraffe, 
which,  by  one  of  those  beautiful  provisions  of  nature, 
thus  reaches,  with  the  aid  of  its  long  neck,  its  leafy 
food.  I  may  remark,  that  in  Abyssinia  the  elephant, 
according  to  Bruce,  when  it  cannot  reach  with  its 
proboscis  the  branches,  deeply  scores  with  its  tusks 
the  trunk  of  the  tree,  up  and  down  and  all  around, 
till  it  is  sufficiently  weakened  to  be  broken  down." 

Darwin  was  particularly  interested  in  the  rhea  or 
South  American  ostrich,  and  was  the  first  to  give  a 
careful  account  of  its  habits.  As  we  have  seen  in  a 
previous  chapter,  he  followed  it  on  horseback,  racing 
with  the  huge  bird  in  sport,  watching  it  at  once 
with  the  eye  of  a  naturalist  and  sportsman.  The 
rhea  he  found,  though  living  upon  grasses  and  tender 
roots,  by  no  means  confined  itself  to  this  diet,  as  one 
day  while  lying  in  concealment  at  Bahia  Blanca  he 
saw  a  number  come  down  to  the  mud  flats  and  feed 
there,  obtaining,  according  to  the  Gauchos,  small  fish ; 
and  that  they  take  to  the  water  readily  he  was  con- 
vinced on  a  later  occasion  by  observing  several  swim 
the  Santa  Cruz  River,  which  was  at  least  four  hun- 
dred yards  wide,  with  a  rapid  current.  In  swimming, 


tj  2  Charles  Darwin. 

the  body  of  the  bird  was  almost  entirely  concealed 
from  view,  the  head  and  neck  alone  appearing  above 
the  surface,  presenting  a  most  comical  appearance  as 
they  moved  slowly  along.  The  cock  rhea  is  the 
larger,  darker  coloured,  and  can  be  distinguished  by 
the  natives  from  the  female  at  a  long  distance. 
While  standing  in  the  brush  one  day  the  young 
naturalist  heard  a  deep-toned  hissing  sound,  which 
he  at  first  thought  proceeded  from  some  large  wild 
beast,  but  soon  discovered  that  it  was  the  cry  of  the 
cock  ostrich. 

Darwin  found  bird-nesting  for  ostrich  eggs  an  easy 
task,  the  nests  being  very  plentiful  everywhere  at 
Bahia  Blanca  in  the  months  of  September  and  Oc- 
tober. Four  nests  were  found  to  contain  twenty- 
two  eggs,  while  another  bore  twenty-seven.  The 
egg-hunting  was  followed  on  horseback,  and  one  day 
Darwin  almost  ran  over  a  cock  sitting  on  a  nest. 
The  Gauchos  informed  him  that  at  times  the  males 
were  exceedingly  fierce,  attacking  all  intruders,  leaping 
at  them  much  after  the  fashion  of  an  African  ostrich. 

While  observing  the  ostrich  the  Gauchos  told  our 
hero  of  another  kind  which  they  called  the  Avestruz 
Petise,  which  they  said  was  smaller  and  more  easily 
captured.  But  one  of  these  was  taken,  and  not 
until  it  had  been  skinned  and  cut  up  for  the  table 
did  the  young  naturalist  learn  that  it  was  the  un- 
known species.  The  principal  parts  were  preserved, 
and  from  these  Mr.  Gould  described  the  new  species, 
naming  it  after  Darwin,  Struthio  Darwinii.  The 
specimen  is  now  in  the  museum  of  the  Zoological 
Society.  The  rhea  proper,  according  to  Darwin, 


I 


,    fjr  ••  1     -'   :' ; 

1 

wLI',    I 


- 


Hibernation  of  Animals.  53 

is  confined  to  the  La  Plata  country,  while  his  species 
takes  its  place  in  Patagonia. 

Among  the  strange  animals  observed  here  were 
the  armadillos,  four  species  being  found  ;  some  were 
day  travellers,  while  others  only  appeared  at  night, 
wandering  over  the  plains.  When  approached  the 
little  creatures  would  roll  up  into  a  ball-like  shape, 
and  were  then  safe  from  all  but  human  attack.  In 
riding  over  the  country  they  were  frequently  seen, 
but  so  rapidly  did  they  dig  and  burrow  that  it  was 
necessary  to  leap  from  the  horse  immediately,  as 
their  hind  quarters  would  almost  disappear  before 
one  could  alight. 

In  the  woods  Darwin  discovered  a  singular  snake, 
Cophias,  which,  while  without  rattles,  produced  a 
warning  almost  similar  to  the  rattlesnake.  The  tip 
of  the  tail  was  slightly  enlarged,  and  as  the  snake 
moved  through  the  brush  it  vibrated,  and,  striking 
against  the  reeds  and  grasses,  produced  a  rattling 
noise  distinctly  audible  six  or  seven  feet  distant. 
Here  was  also  found  a  toad,  with  black  upon  the 
upper  surface  and  the  brightest  vermilion  below, 
living  not  in  damp  spots,  but  crawling  about  in  the 
sunlight.  A  remarkable  mimic  among  the  lizards 
(Proctotretus]  was  noticed  on  the  sea-shore,  living 
on  the  open  rocks,  where  its  close  resemblance  to  its 
surroundings  protected  it  from  various  enemies, 
when  attacked  or  alarmed.  Darwin  was  astonished 
to  see  it  stretch  out  its  legs,  stiffen  its  limbs,  and 
feign  death,  even  closing  its  eyes. 

The  interesting  phase  of  life,  hibernation,  did  not 
escape  the  observant  eye  of  the  young  naturalist, 


54  Charles  Darwin. 

and  his  notes  on  this  one  point  were  voluminous. 
When  frost  came  at  Bahia  Blanca,  few  small  animals 
were  to  be  found  except  by  digging,  the  lizards  and 
insects  having  taken  to  the  earth.  Later  they  re- 
appeared, and  we  here  have  an  interesting  example 
of  the  care  and  thoroughness  which  Darwin  gave 
to  all  his  work.  In  his  log-book  he  writes :  "  During 
the  first  eleven  days,  whilst  nature  was  dormant,  the 
mean  temperature,  taken  from  observations  made 
every  two  hours  on  board  the  Beagle,  was  51°;  and  in 
the  middle  of  the  day  the  thermometer  seldom  ranged 
above  55°.  On  the  eleven  succeeding  days,  in  which  all 
living  things  became  so  animated,  the  mean  was  58°, 
and  the  range  in  the  middle  of  the  day  between 
60-70°.  Here,  then,  an  increase  of  seven  de- 
grees in  mean  temperature,  but  a  greater  one  of 
extreme  heat,  was  sufficient  to  awaken  the  functions 
of  life.  At  Monte  Video,  from  which  we  had  just 
before  sailed,  in  the  twenty-three  days  included 
between  the  26th  of  July  and  the  iQth  of  August, 
the  mean  temperature  from  276  observations  was 
58°-4 ;  the  mean  hottest  day  being  65°. 5,  and  the 
coldest  46°.  The  lowest  point  to  which  the  ther- 
mometer fell  was  41°. 5,  and  occasionally  in  the 
middle  of  the  day  it  rose  to  69°  or  70°.  Yet  with 
this  high  temperature,  almost  every  beetle,  several 
genera  of  spiders,  snails  and  land-shells,  toads  and 
lizards,  were  all  lying  torpid  beneath  stones.  But 
we  have  seen  that  at  Bahia  Blanca,  which  is  four  de- 
grees southward,  and  therefore  a  climate  only  a  very 
little  colder,  this  same  temperature,  with  a  rather 
iess  extreme  heat,  was  sufficient  to  awake  all  orders 


Tame  Indians  "  at  Bakia  Blanca.         55 


of  animated  beings.  This  shows  how  nicely  the 
stimulus  required  to  arouse  hibernating  animals  is 
governed  by  the  usual  climate  of  the  district,  and 
not  by  the  absolute  heat.  It  is  well  known  that 
within  the  tropics,  the  hibernation,  or  more  properly 
aestivation,  of  animals,  is  determined,  not  by  the 
temperature,  but  by  the  times  of  drought.  Near 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  I  was  at  first  surprised  to  observe, 
that,  a  few  days  after  some  little  depressions  had 
been  filled  with  water,  they  were  peopled  by  nu- 
merous full-grown  shells  and  beetles,  which  must 
have  been  lying  dormant.  Humboldt  has  related 
the  strange  accident  of  a  hovel  having  been  erected 
over  a  spot  where  a  young  crocodile  lay  buried  in  the 
hardened  mud.  He  adds,  '  The  Indians  often  find 
enormous  boas,  which  they  call  Uji,  or  water  ser- 
pents, in  the  same  lethargic  state.  To  reanimate 
them,  they  must  be  irritated  or  wetted  with  water.' " 
While  waiting  for  the  Beagle  at  Bahia  Blanca, 
Darwin  witnessed  some  of  the  incidents  of  a  war 
which  was  then  in  progress  with  the  natives.  The 
troops  of  the  famous  South  American  dictator  and 
general,  Rosas,  had  declared  war  against  the  In- 
dians, and  proposed  to  exterminate  them  if  possible. 
A  report  received,  that  a  squad  of  men  had  been 
murdered,  occasioned  no  little  excitement,  and  as 
a  result  a  troop  of  three  hundred  men  came  in  from 
the  Colorado.  They  were  not  Spaniards,  as  Darwin 
expected,  but  "  tame  Indians  "  of  the  tribe  of  the 
Cacique  Bernantio,  and  they  afforded  him  as  inter- 
esting material  for  study  and  observation  as  so  many 
wild  beasts.  They  were  wild,  reckless,  even  brutal, 


56  Charles  Darwin. 


in  the  extreme.  Many,  crazed  with  intoxication, 
threw  themselves  upon  the  cattle  slaughtered  for 
them,  and  drank  the  streaming  blood  like  so  many 
brutes.  The  following  day  they  started  on  the  trail 
of  the  Indians,  but  the  latter  had  made  good  their 
escape  on  the  great  pampas. 

Darwin  gives  these  Indians  no  little  credit  for 
skill  and  intelligence  in  obtaining  results  from  what 
would  be  unintelligible  to  a  white  man.  Thus  they 
could  examine  the  tracks  of  a  thousand  horses  and 
tell  how  many  were  mounted  by  men,  how  many 
bore  loads,  whether  they  were  fresh  or  fatigued,  and 
whether  they  were  going  fast  or  slowly.  For  this 
they  did  not  not  need  a  fresh  trail,  one  ten  days  old 
being  read  with  equal  ease.  The  Indians  exhibited 
in  their  warfare  a  ferocity  that  would  do  credit  to 
some  of  the  red  men  of  America.  To  show  their 
nature,  Darwin  found  that  a  man  struck  down  seized 
his  assailant  by  the  thumb  with  his  teeth  and  clung 
to  it  like  a  bull-dog  while  his  eyes  were  torn  out. 
Another  feigned  death,  hoping  an  enemy  might 
approach  within  reach  of  his  knife,  so  that  he  might 
die  red-handed.  Another  fled  crying  for  mercy, 
and  was  seen  trying  to  clear  his  bolas  all  the  time. 
Darwin's  informant  nonchalantly  said  that  he  squared 
accounts  with  this  fellow  by  striking  him  down  with 
a  sabre,  then,  dismounting,  cut  his  throat  with  his 
knife — a  horrible  picture,  and  seemingly  impossible 
in  a  civilised  land. 

That  the  Indians  are  disappearing  before  the 
Spaniards,  as  they  have  in  North  America,  is  a  well- 
known  fact,  and  their  extermination  is  only  a  matter 


Equestrian  Skill  of  the  Indians.          5  7 

of  time.  Darwin  learned  that  in  1535  there  were 
villages  which  contained  two  or  three  thousand 
people,  while  at  the  time  of  his  visit  the  remnants 
were  wanderers  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 

To  show  the  remarkable  equestrian  skill  of  these 
Indians,  Darwin  cites  an  incident  of  the  escape  of  a 
chief.  Pursued  by  the  Spaniards  and  closely  pressed, 
he  sprang  upon  a  fresh  white  horse,  which  had 
neither  saddle  nor  bridle,  drew  his  little  son  up 
behind  him,  and  dashed  away  at  full  speed.  When 
fired  at  he  threw  an  arm  about  the  horse's  neck  and 
fell  to  one  side,  and  though  the  follower  changed 
horses  three  times,  the  Indian  made  good  his  escape. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AMONG  THE  FOSSILS. 

A  Long  Bullock  Ride— Santa  Fe — An  Animal  Collector— Large 
Fossils — Indian  Superstitions — Darwin  111 — A  Native  Doctor — 
Geology — Gigantic  Armoured  Animals — Drought — The  Parana — 
The  Jaguar — Darwin  a  Prisoner — Swimming  Horses — Shower  of 
Butterflies — Phosphorescence. 

INK  of  the  most  interest- 
ing expeditions  made  by 
Darwin  was  from  Buenos 
Ayres  to  Santa  F£,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  three  hun- 
dred miles.  The  conven- 
iences for  travelling  were 
limited,  the  trip  being 
made  in  bullock  waggons 
— a  tedious  operation  at 
best,  but  which  had  at 
least  one  commendable 
feature :  it  afforded  the  naturalist  ample  opportunities 
to  collect  en  route  without  the  danger  of  being  left 
behind  should  he  stray  from  the  road.  This  country 
was  the  home  of  the  biscacha  (Lagostomus  tricho- 
dactylus),  a  little  rodent  somewhat  resembling  a  rab- 
58 


An  Animal  Collector.  59 


bit,  but  with  a  longer  tail.  Its  ways  and  habits  were 
of  the  greatest  interest  to  the  explorer,  who  made 
voluminous  notes  upon  it.  He  cites  as  a  singular 
circumstance  that  it  was  never  seen  east  of  the  Uru- 
guay, the  great  river  forming  a  barrier  to  its  prog- 
ress, and  that  it  was  a  very  conspicuous  feature  in 
the  zoology  of  the  pampas  region. 

The  biscacha  attracted  his  attention  particularly 
on  account  of  its  peculiar  habit  of  collecting.  Its 
holes  were  common  about  the  pampas,  and  were 
conspicuous  for  the  variety  of  curious  articles  found 
around  them,  gathered  from  far  and  near  by  the 
biscacha.  The  objects  included  stones,  bones,  lumps 
of  earth,  pieces  of  wood,  thistle  stalks,  and  various 
things.  So  confirmed  is  this  habit  that  when  the 
natives  lose  any  thing  along  the  road  they  immedi- 
ately go  to  the  holes  of  the  biscacha,  generally 
finding  the  missing  articles  in  the  heap.  Thus  Dar- 
win was  informed  that  spurs,  whips,  and  even  a  gold 
watch  which  had  been  lost  were  recovered  in  this 
manner. 

On  October  1st  the  exploring  party  arrived  at  Rio 
Tercero,  famous  as  the  burying-ground  for  many 
large  fossil  animals.  Among  other  specimens  our 
young  naturalist  discovered  two  enormous  skeletons, 
standing  out  in  relief  against  the  cliff-like  sides  of 
the  Parana.  They  were  in  the  last  stages  of  decay, 
and  the  teeth  only  could  be  preserved. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  Indians  believed 
the  animals  to  be  subterranean  like  the  biscacha, 
from  the  fact  that  the  skeletons  were  found  under- 
ground, a  supposition  entertained  by  the  Chinese 


60  Charles  Darwin. 

and  Siberians  regarding  the  mammoth.  At  Santa 
F6  Darwin  was  much  impressed  with  the  great  cli- 
matic differences  which  resulted  from  a  change  of 
merely  three  degrees  of  latitude.  Everything  sug- 
gested it :  the  costumes  of  the  people,  the  cacti,  and 
the  superior  size  of  certain  trees. 

At  this  place  the  naturalist  was  taken  ill,  and  was 
attended  by  an  old  woman,  who,  if  she  did  not 
succeed  in  curing  him,  added  largely  to  his  store  of 
information  on  native  remedies.  He  was  troubled 
with  severe  headache,  to  cure  which  his  nurse  sug- 
gested that  he  bind  an  orange  leaf  on  his  temple,  or 
split  a  bean  and  place  one  half  on  each  side  of  the 
head.  He  also  found  that  it  was  the  custom  to 
allow  these  medicines  to  cling  upon  the  skin  until 
they  dropped  off ;  so  that  if  a  man  or  woman  was 
seen  with  a  bit  of  plaster  or  a  leaf  adhering  to  the 
temple,  the  inference  was  that  they  either  were  suf- 
fering with  a  headache  or  had  had  one  a  few  days 
previous.  Another  curative  was  to  kill  two  small 
dogs  and  bind  them  to  an  injured  limb,  while  the 
common  little  hairless  dogs  he  found  were  in  no 
little  demand  to  warm  the  feet  of  invalids — an  ani- 
mated plaster. 

Darwin  included  the  Governor  of  Santa  Fe,  one 
Lopez,  among  the  natural  curiosities  of  the  place. 
He  learned  that  his  favourite  sport  was  hunting  In- 
dians, he  having  recently  destroyed  forty  or  more, 
the  adults  being  killed  outright,  while  the  children 
were  sold  at  a  rate  of  ten  or  twelve  dollars  apiece ! 

Across  the  Parana  River,  at  Santa  Fe  Bajada, 
Darwin  found  one  of  the  richest  geological  collect- 


Gigantic  Armour  of  an  Extinct  AniniaL   6 1 

ing  fields  of  his  entire  voyage,  and  nearly  a  week 
was  spent  in  working  over  what  appeared  to  be  the 
graves  of  innumerable  monsters  of  the  olden  time. 
He  discovered  at  the  base  of  the  lofty  cliff  a  stratum 
containing  sea-shells  and  sharks'  teeth,  while  higher 
up  came  a  red  clay  earth,  which  contained  the  re- 
mains of  some  remarkable  forms. 

Darwin  read  the  explored  section  as  the  pages  of 
a  book,  assuming  that  here  was  once  a  large  bay  of 
salt  water,  which  had  gradually  been  encroached 
upon,  and  into  which  the  bodies  of  huge  animals 
had  been  swept  and  buried.  Out  on  the  pampas  be- 
yond Bajada  he  came  upon  a  wonderful  deposit,  in 
which  he  unearthed  the  gigantic  armour  of  an  extinct 
armadillo-like  animal,  which  he  compared  to  a  huge 
caldron,  large  enough  for  several  men  to  find  protec- 
tion in.  In  the  vicinity  were  the  remains  of  a  mas- 
todon, showing  that  the  elephant  once  roamed  the 
plains.  With  these  was  a  horse's  tooth,  of  which 
Darwin  wrote  in  his  note-book :  "  This  latter  tooth 
greatly  interested  me,  and  I  took  scrupulous  care  in 
ascertaining  that  it  had  been  embedded  contempora- 
neously with  the  other  remains,  for  I  was  not  then 
aware  that  amongst  the  fossils  from  Bahia  Blanca 
there  was  a  horse's  tooth  hidden  in  the  matrix,  nor 
was  it  then  known  with  certainty  that  the  remains  of 
horses  are  common  in  South  America.  Mr.  Lyell 
has  lately  brought  from  the  United  States  a  tooth  of 
a  horse,  and  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  Professor 
Owen  could  find,  in  no  species,  either  fossil  or  recent, 
a  slight  but  peculiar  curvature  characterising  it,  until 
he  thought  of  comparing  it  with  my  specimen  found 


62  Charles  Darwin. 

here.  He  had  named  this  American  Equus  curvi- 
dens.  Certainly  it  is  a  marvellous  fact  in  the  history 
of  the  mammalia,  that  in  South  America  a  native 
horse  should  have  lived  and  disappeared,  to  be  suc- 
ceeded in  after  ages  by  the  countless  herds  descended 
from  the  few  introduced  with  the  Spanish  colonists  !  " 

In  later  years,  Professor  Marsh  has  shown  that  a 
long  line  of  horses  once  lived  in  America,  this  being 
one  of  the  most  interesting  and  perfect  links  of 
evidence  in  the  geological  chain. 

These  remains  suggested  to  the  mind  of  Darwin 
many  questions  pregnant  with  interest,  not  the  least 
of  which  was  the  geographical  distribution  of  ani- 
mals. He  divided  North  and  South  America  at  the 
lofty  table-land  of  Mexico,  which  would  naturally 
affect  migration,  and  saw  in  the  separation  two  im- 
portant and  strongly  contrasted  zoological  fields. 
"  Some  few  species,"  he  writes,  "  alone  have  passed 
the  barrier,  and  may  be  considered  as  wanderers 
from  the  south,  such  as  the  puma,  opossum,  kinka- 
jou,  and  peccary.  South  America  is  characterised  by 
possessing  many  peculiar  gnawers,  a  family  of  mon- 
keys, the  llama,  peccary,  tapir,  opossums,  and,  espe- 
cially, several  genera  of  Edentata,  the  order  which 
includes  the  sloths,  ant-eaters,  and  armadillos.  North 
America,  on  the  other  hand,  is  characterised  (putting 
on  one  side  a  few  wandering  species)  by  numerous 
peculiar  gnawers,  and  by  four  genera  of  hollow- 
horned  ruminants,  of  which  great  division  South 
America  is  not  known  to  possess  a  single  species. 
Formerly,  but  within  the  period  when  most  of  the 
now  existing  shells  were  living,  North  America 


DIAGRAM    ILLUSTRATING   THE    EVOLUTION   OF    THE 
HORSE. 

Throughout  a.  is   fore-foot ;  b,  hind-foot ;  c,  fore-arm  ;  d,  shank  : 

e,  molar  on   side-view  ;  f  and  g,  grinding   surface   of 

upper   and    lower   molars.      (After  Marsh.} 


Geological  Speculations.  63 

possessed,  besides  hollow-horned  ruminants,  the  ele- 
phant, mastodon,  horse,  and  three  genera  of  Edentata. 
Within  nearly  this  same  period  (as  proved  by  the 
shells  at  Bahia  Blanca)  South  America  possessed  a 
mastodon,  horse,  hollow-horned  ruminant,  and  the 
same  three  genera  of  Edentata.  Hence  it  is  evident 
that  North  and  South  America,  in  having  within 
a  late  geological  period  these  several  genera  in  com- 
mon, were  much  more  closely  related  in  the  character 
of  their  terrestrial  inhabitants  than  they  are  now.  The 
more  I  reflect  on  this  case,  the  more  interesting  it 
appears :  I  know  of  no  other  instance  where  we  can 
almost  mark  the  period  and  manner  of  the  splitting 
up  of  one  great  region  into  two  well-characterised 
zoological  provinces.  The  geologist,  who  is  fully 
impressed  with  the  vast  oscillations  of  level  which 
have  affected  the  earth's  crust  within  late  periods, 
will  not  fear  to  speculate  on  the  recent  elevation  of 
the  Mexican  platform,  or,  more  probably,  on  the 
recent  submergence  of  land  in  the  West  Indian 
Archipelago,  as  the  cause  of  the  present  zoological 
separation  of  North  and  South  America.  The  South 
American  character  of  the  West  Indian  mammals, 
seems  to  indicate  that  this  archipelago  was  formerly 
united  to  the  southern  continent,  and  that  it  has 
subsequently  been  an  area  of  subsidence. 

"  When  America,  and  especially  North  America, 
possessed  its  elephants,  mastodons,  horse,  and  hol- 
low-horned ruminants,  it  was  much  more  closely 
related  in  its  zoological  characters  to  the  temperate 
parts  of  Europe  and  Asia  than  it  now  is.  As  the 
remains  of  these  genera  are  found  on  both  sides  of 


64  Charles  Darwin. 

Behring's  Straits  and  on  the  plains  of  Siberia,  we  are 
led  to  look  to  the  north-western  side  of  North  Amer- 
ica as  the  former  point  of  communication  between 
the  Old  and  so-called  New  World.  And  as  so  many 
species,  both  living  and  extinct,  of  these  same  genera 
inhabit  and  have  inhabited  the  Old  World,  it  seems 
most  probable  that  the  North  American  elephants, 
mastodons,  horse,  and  hollow-horned  ruminants  mi- 
grated, on  land  since  submerged  near  Behring's 
Straits,  from  Siberia  into  North  America,  and 
thence,  on  land  since  submerged  in  the  West  Indies, 
into  South  America,  where  for  a  time  they  mingled 
with  the  forms  characteristic  of  that  southern  conti- 
nent, and  have  since  become  extinct." 

While  travelling  through  this  region,  Darwin 
learned  that  between  the  years  1827-30,  a  terrible 
drought  had  occurred,  during  which  myriads  of 
animals  had  perished.  He  was  told  that  wild 
deer  became  so  thirsty  that,  devoid  of  fear,  they 
came  into  the  yards  of  native  houses  and  endeav- 
oured to  obtain  water  from  the  wells;  while  game 
birds  could  be  caught  by  the  hand.  It  was  esti- 
mated that  one  million  head  of  cattle  were  lost 
during  this  time. 

A  most  interesting  deduction  from  facts  obtained 
here  was  made  by  Darwin.  He  learned  that  many 
animals  frenzied  with  thirst  rushed  down  the  banks 
of  streams  in  herds,  and  were  often  so  weak  that 
they  were  unable  to  climb  up  again.  Then  followed 
the  flood,  and  their  bodies  were  washed  away  and 
buried.  He  concluded  that  several  hundred  thou- 
sand creatures  may  easily  have  been  destroyed  at 


Warnings  of  Danger.  65 


certain  points,  and  he  quotes  Azara  as  having  seen 
the  carcasses  of  a  thousand  wild  horses  in  one  place. 

Darwin  noticed  that  several  of  the  small  streams 
of  the  pampas  appeared  to  be  paved  with  a  breccia  of 
bones.  "  What,"  he  asks,  "  would  be  the  opinion  of 
a  geologist,  viewing  such  an  enormous  collection  of 
bones,  of  all  kinds  of  animals  and  of  all  ages,  thus 
embedded  in  one  thick  earthy  mass?  Would  he  not 
attribute  it  to  a  flood  having  swept  over  the  surface 
of  the  land,  rather  than  to  the  common  order  of 
things?  " 

His  discerning  eye  immediately  connected  these 
modern  fatalities  with  those  that  had  occurred  ages 
in  the  past,  and  saw  a  possible  explanation  of  the 
great  deposits  of  fossil  bones  found  to-day  mingled 
in  such  an  inexplicable  confusion. 

In  coming  down  the  Parana,  our  young  naturalist, 
who  was  inclined  to  wander  ashore  and  visit  the 
many  islands  which  abounded,  was  warned  to  be  on 
his  guard  against  the  jaguar,  which  was  common 
here.  The  canebrakes  of  the  river  were  the  favourite 
haunts  of  the  American  tiger,  and  its  tracks  were 
found  everywhere.  When  their  natural  food  is 
scarce  they  do  not  hesitate  to  attack  man.  A  sailor 
fought  with  one  on  the  deck  of  a  vessel,  losing  his 
arm  in  the  contest ;  while  a  few  years  previous  to 
Darwin's  visit,  a  "  man-eater  "  found  its  way  into  the 
church  at  Santa  F6  and  killed  two  padres,  one  after 
the  other,  as  they  entered,  and  badly  wounding  a 
third.  The  naturalist  was  shown  certain  trees  which 
had  been  scratched  by  the  tiger,  the  marks  being  so 
frequent  that  the  natives  were  in  the  habit  of  look- 
5 


66  Charles  Darwin. 

v 

ing  at  the  trees  to  see  if  a  jaguar  was  near.  The 
common  cat  has  a  similar  habit,  as  well  as  the  black 
bear,  especially  in  the  Gulf  States  of  North  America, 
and  Darwin  believed  the  same  was  true  of  the  puma 
from  marks  he  had  seen,  and  suggested  that  it  was 
done  to  tear  off  the  ragged  points  of  their  claws,  and 
not  to  sharpen  them  as  the  Gauchos  thought. 

The  sail  down  the  Rio  Parana  was  enlivened  by 
one  incident  not  on  the  programme.  Upon  reaching 
the  mouth  of  the  river,  Darwin  landed  at  the  little 
town  of  Las  Conchas,  hoping  to  reach  Buenos  Ayres 
sooner,  and  there  was  made  a  prisoner.  A  revolu- 
tion had  suddenly  broken  out,  and  no  one  was 
allowed  to  leave  the  place,  so  that  he  could  not  even 
return  to  the  vessel.  After  many  disappointments, 
and  much  red  tape,  an  audience  was  obtained  with 
the  commanding  officer,  when,  upon  mentioning  that 
he  had  received  courtesies  from  Rosas,  he  was  al- 
lowed to  pass  the  line,  and  escorted  to  the  city, 
where  he  took  passage  in  a  small  vessel  for  Monte 
Video. 

Between  this  city  and  Colonia  del  Sacramiento  an 
opportunity  was  afforded  of  observing  the  skill  with 
which  horses  swam  streams.  Darwin's  own  animal 
readily  passed  over  rivers  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide, 
while  an  instance  was  related  of  a  native  horse 
which  swam  from  a  wreck  a  distance  of  nearly 
seven  miles. 

Darwin  observed  a  Gaucho  swimming  a  stream 
with  his  horse,  holding  the  animal  by  his  tail,  and 
refers  to  the  fact  that  he  himself  was  towed  across  a 
river  with  three  others  in  a  boat  in  the  same  manner. 


Description  of  the  Niata.  67 

On  an  estancia  at  the  Arroyo  de  San  Juan,  Darwin 
met  with  a  curious  breed  of  cattle,  which  aroused  his 
interest  and  curiosity  to  a  high  degree.  They  were 
called  nata,  or  niata,  and  seemed  to  him  to  bear  the 
same  relation  to  their  tribe  in  general  that  the  bull- 
dog does  to  its  fellows  of  the  canine  race.  "  The 
forehead,"  he  says,  "  is  very  short  and  broad,  with 
the  nasal  end  turned  up,  and  the  upper  lip  much 
drawn  back ;  their  lower  jaws  project  beyond  the 
upper,  and  have  a  corresponding  upward  curve : 
hence  their  teeth  are  always  exposed.  Their  nos- 
trils are  seated  high  up,  and  are  very  open  ;  their 
eyes  project  outwards.  When  walking  they  carry 
their  heads  low,  on  a  short  neck;  and  their  hinder 
legs  are  rather  longer,  compared  with  the  front  legs, 
than  is  usual.  Their  bare  teeth,  their  short  heads, 
and  up-turned  nostrils  give  them  the  most  ludicrous, 
self-confident  air  of  defiance  imaginable." 

Darwin  secured  the  skull  of  one  of  these  oxen, 
which  is  now  in  the  museum  of  the  College  of  Sur- 
geons, London,  and  upon  investigation  learned  that 
the  singular  breed  originated  among  the  Indians 
south  of  the  Plata.  He  remarks  that  it  is  a  curious 
fact  that  an  almost  similar  structure  to  this  abnormal 
one  of  the  niata  is  found  in  the  fossil  sivatherium. 

Our  young  naturalist  was  always  on  the  look-out 
for  good  collecting  fields,  and  was  in  constant 
receipt  of  reports  from  the  natives  of  wonders  of 
various  kinds,  which  in  many  instances  amounted  to 
nothing.  Hearing  of  some  gigantic  bones,  he  visited 
a  ranch  on  the  Sarandis,  a  small  tributary  of  the  Rio 
Negro,  where  he  found  a  fine  head  of  the  toxodon, 


68  Charles  Darwin. 

which  he  purchased  for  twenty-five  cents,  and  ulti- 
mately conveyed  safely  to  England.  He  judged 
from  the  specimens  found  here  that  the  huge  animal 
was  common  at  one  time.  With  it  he  discovered 
more  specimens  of  the  gigantic  armadillo-like  animal, 
and  the  massive  skull  of  a  mylodon ;  and,  more  re- 
markable still,  he  found  that  the  bones  of  the  latter 
were  so  fresh  that  they  retained  seven  per  cent,  of 
animal  matter. 

Darwin  was  impressed  by  the  vastness  of  the 
deposit  here,  and  he  estimated  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  draw  a  line  through  the  pampas  in 
any  direction  without  striking  a  skeleton  of  some 
kind.  The  natives  were  familiar  with  the  remains, 
and  often  named  places  for  them  :  thus  an  elevation 
was  called  "  the  hill  of  the  giant,"  and  a  river  "  the 
stream  of  the  animal."  The  investigations  of  the 
naturalist  were  not  confined  to  the  inanimate  and 
the  lower  animals  alone ;  while  constantly  at  work 
in  the  departments  of  his  choice,  he  made  extensive 
studies  of  the  social  life  of  the  people,  giving  a 
graphic  description  of  their  life  and  habits. 

He  found  the  Gauchos  obliging  and  polite  to 
strangers,  but  among  themselves  belligerent,  and 
with  little  or  no  regard  for  life.  Every  man  carried 
a  knife,  and  murders  and  affrays  were  common 
occurrences.  At  one  town  he  asked  two  men  why 
they  did  not  work ;  one  replied  that  he  was  too 
poor,  while  the  other  gave  as  an  excuse  that  the 
days  were  too  long.  This  was  characteristic  of  a 
country,  where  justice  was  a  mockery  and  the  grossest 
crimes  went  unpunished  if  the  offender  was  rich. 


A   Shower  of  Butterflies.  69 


On  December  6th,  Darwin  again  set  sail  in  the 
Beagle,  after  a  most  successful  trip  through  the 
country,  and  carried  aboard  collections  that  well 
represented  the  fauna  of  the  locality.  Being  at  sea, 
he  found,  did  not  entirely  prevent  the  collection 
of  shore  animals.  Thus  one  evening,  when  ten 
miles  off  shore,  near  the  bay  of  San  Bias,  the  Beagle 
was  fairly  surrounded  by  a  shower  of  butterflies, 
which  extended  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach. 
Even  with  a  telescope  no  spot  could  be  discovered 
free  from  them,  so  their  numbers  can  be  imagined. 
The  sight  was  so  marvellous  that  the  men  remarked 
that  it  was  snowing  butterflies. 

Darwin  found  it  difficult  to  explain  the  presence 
of  the  insects  off  shore,  as  there  was  no  storm  or 
squall  which  could  have  driven  them  out  to  sea. 

Upon  various  occasions  insects  were  taken  while 
at  sea,  some  in  the  nets  which  were  dragged  astern. 
The  most  remarkable  case  recorded  is  of  a  grass- 
hopper, which  flew  aboard  the  Beagle  when  she  was 
three  hundred  and  seventy  miles  from  land,  off  the 
African  coast.  Spiders  were  captured  sixty  miles 
from  shore,  all  sailing  on  little  balloons  made  of  their 
own  silk.  When  they  came  aboard  it  was  found  that 
they  were  extremely  thirsty,  and  eagerly  drank  from 
drops  of  water. 

These  spiders  were,  according  to  Darwin,  the 
aeronauts  of  the  tribe,  and  he  devoted  many  hours 
to  them.  When  wishing  to  rise,  the  abdomen  was 
elevated  and  several  skeins  of  silk  ejected,  which 
passed  up  into  the  air  for  several  yards  in  the  ascend- 
ing current,  and  then,  releasing  its  hold,  the  spider 


Charles  Darwin. 


was  carried  away.  During  the  passage  south  num- 
bers of  interesting  marine  animals  were  added  to  the 
collections,  among  which  were  singular  crabs  with 
suckers  for  clinging  to  other  animals.  The  phospho- 
rescent forms  were  particularly  numerous,  of  which 
he  writes  : 

"  While  sailing  a  little  south  of  the  Plata  on  one 
very  dark  night  the  sea  presented  a  most  wonderful 
and  beautiful  spectacle.  There  was  a  fresh  breeze, 
and  every  part  of  the  surface,  which  during  the  day 
is  seen  as  foam,  now  glowed  with  a  pale  light.  The 
vessel  drove  before  her  bows  two  billows  of  liquid 
phosphorus,  and  in  her  wake  she  was  followed  by  a 
milky  train.  As  far  as  the  eye  reached  the  crest  of 
every  wave  was  bright,  and  the  sky  above  the  hori- 
zon, from  the  reflected  glare  of  these  livid  flames, 
was  not  so  utterly  obscure  as  over  the  vault  of  the 
heavens. 

"  As  we  proceed  further  southward  the  sea  is  sel- 
dom phosphorescent ;  and  off  Cape  Horn  I  do  not 
recollect  more  than  once  having  seen  it  so,  and  then 
it  was  far  from  being  brilliant.  This  circumstance 
probably  has  a  close  connexion  with  the  scarcity  of 
organic  beings  in  that  part  of  the  ocean.  After  the 
elaborate  paper  by  Ehrenberg  on  the  phospho- 
rescence of  the  sea,  it  is  almost  superfluous  on  my 
part  to  make  any  observations  on  the  subject.  I 
may,  however,  add  that  the  same  torn  and  irregular 
particles  of  gelatinous  matter,  described  by  Ehren- 
berg, seem,  in  the  southern  as  well  as  in  the  northern 
hemisphere,  to  be  the  common  cause  of  this  phe- 
nomenon. The  particles  were  so  minute  as  easily  to 


Phosphorescent  Animals.  71 

pass  through  fine  gauze  ;  yet  many  were  distinctly 
visible  by  the  naked  eye.  The  water,  when  placed 
in  a  tumbler  and  agitated,  gave  out  sparks,  but  a 
small  portion  in  a  watch-glass  scarcely  ever  was 
luminous.  Ehrenberg  states  that  these  particles  all 
retain  a  certain  degree  of  irritability.  My  observa- 
tions, some  of  which  were  made  directly  after  taking 
up  the  water,  gave  a  different  result.  I  may  also 
mention  that,  having  used  the  net  during  one  night, 
I  allowed  it  to  become  partially  dry,  and  having 
occasion  twelve  hours  afterwards  to  employ  it  again, 
I  found  the  whole  surface  sparkled  as  brightly  as 
when  first  taken  out  of  the  water.  It  does  not 
appear  probable,  in  this  case,  that  the  particles  could 
have  remained*  so  long  alive.  On  one  occasion, 
having  kept  a  jelly-fish  of  the  genus  Diancea  till  it 
was  dead,  the  water  in  which  it  was  placed  became 
luminous." 

Since  Darwin  made  his  famous  trip  scores  of  ani- 
mals have  been  added  to  the  list  of  those  which  emit 
light,  yet  the  true  secret  of  the  illumination  has  not 
yet  been  determined. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    LAND    OF   GIANTS. 


The  Patagonians — Guanaco  Hunting — Singular  Burial  Customs — A 
Horse  with  a  Proboscis — Extinction — Up  the  Santa  Cruz — Puma 
Tracks — Catching  the  Condor — Falkland  Islands — Among  the 
Glaciers— The  Fuegians— Giant  Sea- Weed  and  Its  Work. 


ATAGONIA  was  looked 
forward  to  by  Darwin 
with  no  little  pleasure, 
and  on  December  22d  the 
Beagle  cast  anchor  in  the 
harbor  of  Port  Desire,  near 
the  ruin  of  an  old  Spanish 
settlement.  The  animal 
life  here  was  somewhat 
limited,  as  was  the  flora, 

...-—_  ,^ ,,,~—  — .  _  tne    most     characteristic 

animal  being  the  curious 

little  wild  llama  or  guanaco,  which  was  found  in  large 
herds  on  the  plains.  They  were  shy,  but  Darwin  took 
advantage  of  their  curiosity  by  making  various  mo- 
tions and  assuming  strange  postures,  and  succeeded  in 
shooting  a  number.  When  discovered  several  miles 
off  they  immediately  took  fright  and  ran,  while  one, 
72 


The  Fossils  of  Patagonia.  73 

surprised  near  at  hand,  moved  away  slowly.  Another 
which  Darwin  met  with  on  the  mountains  squealed, 
snorted,  and  pranced  about  when  he  approached,  de- 
fying him,  as  it  were. 

The  guanaco  is  altogether  a  curious  creature,  and 
our  naturalist  found  that  they  actually  had  certain 
places  in  which  to  die.  In  one  spot  he  counted  the 
remains  of  at  least  twenty  of  these  animals  in  a  re- 
stricted area.  Referring  to  this  in  his  note-book  he 
says :  "  I  do  not  at  all  understand  the  reason  of 
this,  but  I  may  observe  that  the  wounded  guanacos 
at  the  Santa  Cruz  invariably  walked  towards  the 
river.  At  St.  Jago,  in  the  Cape  Verd  Islands,  I 
remember  having  seen  in  a  ravine  a  retired  corner 
covered  with  bones  of  the  goat ;  we  at  the  time  ex- 
claimed that  it  was  the  burial-ground  of  all  the  goats 
in  the  island.  I  mention  these  trifling  circumstances 
because  in  certain  cases  they  might  explain  the 
occurrence  of  a  number  of  uninjured  bones  in  a 
cave,  or  buried  under  alluvial  accumulations ;  and 
likewise  the  cause  why  certain  animals  are  more 
commonly  embedded  than  others  in  sedimentary 
deposits." 

Among  the  interesting  fossils  found  in  Patagonia 
was  the  skeleton  of  the  macrauchenia — an  animal 
equalling  a  camel  in  size,  having  a  long  neck  and, 
according  to  Bermeister,  a  South  American  geologist, 
a  short  trunk  like  that  of  an  elephant.  These  singular 
discoveries  were  of  great  import  to  Darwin.  We 
find  him  reflecting  upon  the  causes  which  produced 
their  extinction,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  how 
correct  were  his  deductions.  He  was  impressed 


74  Charles  Darwin. 

with  the  evidences  of  change  that  were  apparent  on 
every  hand.  The  remains  which  he  found  showed 
that  in  the  past  the  country  was  peopled  with  a  race 
of  giants  which  had  given  way  to  pigmies.  The  land 
which  once  trembled  under  the  tread  of  the  huge 
sloth,  and  saw  the  monster  armadillo,  was  now 
roamed  by  the  little  guanaco.  Darwin  proved  that 
the  huge  forms  were  contemporaneous  with  the 
shells  which  then  flourished  in  the  ocean,  conse- 
quently were  of  comparatively  recent  date.  What, 
then,  was  the  cause  of  their  extinction  ?  Darwin's 
first  thought,  and  a  most  natural  one,  was  that  some 
great  cataclysm  had  taken  place  which  destroyed 
entire  races  in  Patagonia  and  Brazil.  He  argued 
from  the  results  of  his  investigations  that  all  the 
physical  features  were  the  result  of  gradual  changes, 
consequently  it  could  not  have  been  a  change  of 
temperature  at  once  sudden  and  death-dealing.  Many 
of  the  animals  which  passed  away  so  mysteriously 
existed  after  the  ice  age,  which  has  been  supposed  to 
have  been  the  exterminator.  What,  then,  could 
have  been  the  cause  of  such  widespread  destruction  ? 
That  early  man  might  have  been  the  destroyer 
evidently  passed  through  the  mind  of  the  young 
naturalist,  as  he  says  :  "  Did  man,  after  his  first  in- 
road into  South  America,  destroy,  as  has  been 
suggested,  the  unwieldy  Megatherium  and  the  other 
Edentata  ?  " 

Yet  he  believed  the  extinction  of  the  smaller 
forms,  as  the  little  tucutuco,  could  not  have  been 
effected  in  this  way.  He  considered  an  extreme 
drought  and  reflected  upon  its  possibilities,  also 


Extinction  of  Species.  75 


upon  the  failure  of  a  food  supply.  "  Did  those 
plains  fail  of  pasture,  which  have  since  been  overrun 
by  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the 
descendants  of  the  stock  introduced  by  the  Span- 
iards? Have  the  subsequently  introduced  species 
consumed  the  food  of  the  great  antecedent  races  ? 
Can  we  believe  that  the  Capybara  has  taken  the  food 
of  the  Toxodon,  the  Guanaco  of  the  Macrauchenia, 
the  existing  small  Edentata  of  their  numerous  gigan- 
tic prototypes  ?  Certainly  no  fact  in  the  long  history 
of  the  world  is  so  startling  as  the  wide  and  repeated 
exterminations  of  its  inhabitants." 

In  these  thoughts  and  conclusions  of  the  young 
naturalist  we  see  the  germs  of  the  genius  that  re- 
sulted long  after  his  trip  in  the  greatest  of  his  works, 
the  "  Origin  of  Species."  He  did  not  assign  any 
direct  cause  for  their  disappearance,  but  concluded 
that  the  laws  of  nature  regulated  the  increase  and 
decrease  of  forms.  For  some  the  conditions  were 
favourable  for  perpetuation ;  for  others  they  were 
not,  so  that  in  one  direction  we  might  find  rapid 
multiplication,  and  in  another  a  tendency  to  extinc- 
tion or  running  out. 

The  reasoning  of  Darwin  at  this  time  is  so  pro- 
phetic of  his  later  work  that  it  will  add  to  the  inter- 
est to  quote  his  words  as  given  in  his  note-book  :  "  In 
the  cases  where  we  can  trace  the  extinction  of  a 
species  through  man,  either  wholly  or  in  one  limited 
district,  we  know  that  it  becomes  rarer  and  rarer, 
and  is  then  lost ;  it  would  be  difficult  to  point  out 
any  just  distinction  between  a  species  destroyed  by 
man  or  by  the  increase  of  its  natural  enemies.  The 


Charles  Dwwin. 


evidence  of  rarity  preceding  extinction  is  more  strik- 
ing in  the  successive  tertiary  strata,  as  remarked  by 
several  able  observers  ;  it  has  often  been  found  that 
a  shell  very  common  in  a  tertiary  stratum  is  now 
most  rare,  and  has  even  long  been  thought  to  be 
extinct.  If,  then,  as  appears  probable,  species  first 
become  rare  and  then  extinct  —  if  the  too  rapid 
increase  of  every  species,  even  the  most  favoured,  is 
steadily  checked,  as  we  must  admit,  though  how  and 
when  it  is  hard  to  say  —  and  if  we  see,  without  the 
smallest  surprise,  though  unable  to  assign  the  pre- 
cise reason,  one  species  abundant  and  another  closely 
allied  species  rare  in  the  same  district,  why  should 
we  feel  such  great  astonishment  at  the  rarity  being 
carried  a  step  further  to  extinction  ?  An  action  going 
on  on  every  side  of  us,  and  yet  barely  appreciable, 
might  surely  be  carried  a  little  further  without  ex- 
citing our  observation.  Who  would  feel  any  great 
surprise  at  hearing  that  the  Megalonyx  was  formerly 
rare  compared  with  the  Megatherium,  or  that  one  of 
the  fossil  monkeys  was  few  in  number  compared 
with  one  of  the  now  living  monkeys?  and  yet  in 
this  comparative  rarity  we  should  have  the  plainest 
evidence  of  less  favourable  conditions  for  their  exist- 
ence. To  admit  that  species  generally  become  rare 
before  they  become  extinct  —  to  feel  no  surprise  at 
the  comparative  rarity  of  one  species  with  another, 
and  yet  to  call  in  some  extraordinary  agent  and  to 
marvel  greatly  when  a  species  ceases  to  exist,  ap- 
pears to  me  much  the  same  as  to  admit  that  sick- 
ness in  the  individual  is  the  prelude  to  death  —  to 
feel  no  surprise  at  sickness  —  but  when  the  sick  man 


Trip  up  the  Santa   Cruz  River.         77 


dies,  to  wonder,  and  to  believe  that  he  died  through 
violence." 

An  interesting  trip  made  in  this  country  was  up 
the  Santa  Cruz  River,  concerning  which  very  little 
was  known,  Europeans  having  gone  but  thirty  miles 
from  the  mouth  in  previous  voyages.  The  expedi- 
tion into  the  unknown  land  was  composed  of  three 
whale-boats  provisioned  for  three  weeks  and  manned 
by  Darwin,  an  officer,  and  twenty-five  men  as  a 
guard  against  Indians.  The  river  was  about  one 
third  of  a  mile  wide,  seventeen  feet  deep,  and  very 
rapid,  terraces  rising  on  either  side,  forming  a  valley 
nearly  ten  miles  in  width.  It  was  hard  and  tedious 
work,  as  canal  tactics  had  to  be  adopted ;  the  boats 
were  fastened  together,  the  men  walking  along  the 
banks  and  hauling  them  by  a  rope.  A  few  days  out 
they  saw  smoke,  and  found  evidences  of  a  camp. 
Puma  tracks  were  seen  everywhere,  and  an  occasional 
guanaco  with  its  neck  broken  told  of  the  power  of  this 
great  cat.  The  geology  of  the  region  was  carefully 
studied  by  the  naturalist  and  was  of  no  little  inter- 
est. He  found  deposits  of  lava  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  in  thickness,  and  later  two  hundred  feet 
thicker,  showing  that  a  mighty  volcanic  eruption  had 
taken  place  at  some  early  time. 

When  well  up  the  river  our  hero  shot  his  first 
condor,  the  bird  measuring  from  tip  to  tip  of  wings 
eight  and  a  half  feet.  Near  the  river,  among  the 
basaltic  cliffs,  he  discovered  a  rookery  of  the  noble 
birds,  and  as  he  approached  the  edge  of  the  preci- 
pice he  saw  thirty  or  more  fly  away  at  once,  present- 
ing a  magnificent  spectacle.  He  was  particularly 


78  Charles  Darwin. 

observant  of  their  flight,  and  in  a  letter,  written  to 
the  late  Dr.  J.  B.  Holder,  expressed  his  astonish- 
ment that  these  birds  could  circle  about,  moving  up 
and  down,  covering  great  distances  without  appar- 
ently vibrating  the  wings. 

While  the  condors  live  upon  carrion,  they  often 
attack  young  animals;  hence  the  natives  trained 
their  dogs  to  dash  out  and  bark  as  they  approached. 

The  Indians  caught  them  in  an  ingenious  way: 
they  surrounded  a  dead  animal  with  a  fence  of  sharp 
sticks,  and  when  the  condor  became  gorged  with 
food,  rushed  in  on  horseback  and  shut  the  enclosure 
before  the  bird  could  escape.  Another  method  wit- 
nessed by  Darwin  consisted  in  creeping  up  to  where 
the  birds  roosted  and  dropping  a  noose  over  their 
heads  while  they  were  asleep. 

In  March,  1833,  the  party  arrived  at  East  Falk- 
land Island,  in  Berkeley  Sound,  where  wild-cattle 
hunting  formed  one  of  the  exciting  incidents.  Many 
hard  and  fatiguing  rides  were  taken,  on  one  of  which 
Darwin  states  that  his  horse  fell  no  less  than  six 
times,  and  frequently  all  the  animals  ridden  by  the 
party  were  floundering  in  the  mud.  In  Berkeley 
Sound  Darwin  found  a  curious  geological  feature, 
nothing  less  than  a  river  of  stones,  the  valley  being 
made  up  of  rocks  thrown  together  in  the  wildest 
manner  possible  and  apparently  flowing  down  to  the 
sea.  The  width  of  the  stream  varied  from  a  few 
hundred  feet  to  a  mile,  and  was  of  unknown  depth, 
water  being  distinctly  heard  trickling  far  below  the 
surface.  In  one  valley  south  of  Berkeley  Sound  one 
of  these  stone  rivers  was  seen,  where  for  a  quarter 


&  I 


uff 


Natives  of  Tier r a  del  Fuego.  79 


of  a  mile  the  observer  crossed  without  stepping 
from  the  rocks,  some  of  which  were  so  large  that 
protection  from  the  rain  was  found  beneath  them. 
The  native  inhabitants  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  were 
looked  for  with  interest,  and  the  first  view  of  them 
was  had  at  the  Bay  of  Good  Success,  a  group  appear- 
ing on  the  shore  waving  their  tattered  garments  at 
the  voyagers.  These  were  the  popularly  called 
giants,  as  the  natives  of  the  land  were  supposed  to 
be  much  larger  than  any  others,  and  are  so  to  a  cer- 
tain extent.  A  boat  was  sent  ashore  and  communi- 
cation held  with  them.  They  were  fine  lusty  fel- 
lows fully  six  feet  in  height,  and  giants  when  com- 
pared to  the  natives  previously  seen.  They  were  of 
a  dirty  copper  color,  and,  though  the  climate  was 
rigorous,  clothed  in  a  simple  guanaco  skin  thrown 
over  the  shoulders. 

Darwin  presented  an  old  man  with  some  slight 
gift,  at  which  he  patted  the  donor's  breast,  uttering 
a  sound  like  that  of  calling  chickens,  then  bared  his 
breast  for  a  return  of  what  was  considered  a  courtesy. 
Darwin  noticed  that  they  were  skilful  mimics,  as 
every  action  of  his,  even  a  yawn,  was  repeated,  and, 
more  remarkable  yet,  they  repeated  the  words  and 
sentences  spoken  to  them  with  exactness. 

The  visit  to  these  people  "had  a  significance,  as 
aboard  the  Beagle  were  several  Fuegians,  who  had 
been  taken  to  England  on  a  previous  trip  to  be  edu- 
cated and  civilised, — a  philanthropic  act  of  Captain 
Fitz-Roy,  who  was  now  bringing  them  back  with  a 
missionary,  who  proposed  to  live  with  their  people 
and  undertake  the  work  of  elevating  them  to  a 


80  Charles  Darwin. 

higher  plane.  The  result  was  that  the  educated 
natives  were  robbed  of  all  their  property  by  their 
relatives,  and  when  visited  some  years  later  were 
found  to  have  lapsed  again  into  savages. 

At  Beagle  Inlet  Darwin  had  an  adventure  with  a 
glacier.  Wishing  to  examine  it  the  boat  was  hauled 
upon  the  beach,  and  the  masses  of  ice  watched  as 
they  fell  away.  Finally  a  large  berg  became  detached 
and  fell  with  a  thundering  crash,  sending  an  immense 
wave  in  upon  the  beach.  Darwin  and  party  rushed 
for  the  boats  to  save  them  if  possible,  reaching  them 
just  as  the  wave  came  crashing  in,  knocking  one  of 
the  men  over  and  lifting  their  boat  high  in  air, 
fortunately  doing  no  damage,  as  they  were  over 
one  hundred  miles  from  the  Beagle. 

At  Cape  Gregory  some  fine  types  of  the  giant  na- 
tives were  seen,  though  Darwin  says  they  appeared 
larger  than  they  really  were  from  their  style  of  dress. 
They  averaged  six  feet  in  height,  some  of  the  men 
being  taller,  and  as  Darwin  describes  them  as  being 
the  tallest  people  he  met  on  the  entire  voyage  around 
the  world,  they  may  be  considered  the  tribal  giants 
of  the  human  race. 

In  referring  to  them  he  says :  "  I  believe,  in  this 
extreme  part  of  South  America,  man  exists  in  a 
lower  state  of  improvement  than  in  any  part  of  the 
world.  The  South  Sea  Islanders  of  the  two  races 
inhabiting  the  Pacific  are  comparatively  civilised. 
The  Esquimau,  in  his  subterranean  hut,  enjoys 
some  of  the  comforts  of  life,  and  in  his  canoe,  when 
fully  equipped,  manifests  much  skill.  Some  of  the 
tribes  of  Southern  Africa,  prowling  about  in  search 


CAPE    FROWARD,  STRAITS   OF   MAGELLAN. 


The  Giant  Sea- Weed.  81 

of  roots,  and  living  concealed  on  the  wild  and  arid 
plains,  are  sufficiently  wretched.  The  Australian,  in 
the  simplicity  of  the  arts  of  life,  comes  nearest  the 
Fuegian  ;  he  can,  however,  boast  of  his  boomerang, 
his  spear,  and  throwing-stick,  his  method  of  climbing 
trees,  of  tracking  animals,  and  of  hunting.  Although 
the  Australian  may  be  superior  in  acquirements,  it  by 
no  means  follows  that  he  is  likewise  superior  in  men- 
tal capacity  ;  indeed,  from  what  I  saw  of  the  Fuegians 
when  on  board,  and  from  what  I  have  read  of  the 
Australians,  I  should  think  the  case  was  exactly  the 
reverse." 

Darwin  found  the  zoology  of  this  region  more  or 
less  disappointing,  though  the  ocean  and  rocky 
shores  gave  protection  to  numbers  of  interesting 
animals,  which  he  added  to  his  collection.  He  ob- 
served that  the  giant  sea-weed,  Macrocystis  pyrifera, 
flourished  off  shore  in  the  midst  of  a  terrific  sea,  and 
he  at  once  recognised  in  it  an  important  factor  in  the 
preservation  of  animal  life.  He  found  it  growing  in 
water  three  hundred  and  sixty  feet  deep,  reaching  to 
the  surface,  and  proved  that  it  formed  a  natural 
breakwater,  and  gave  shelter  in  its  leaves  and  branches 
to  innumerable  animals,  from  delicate  shells  and 
crustaceans  up  to  fishes.  Indeed  he  considered  that 
the  actual  existence  of  the  natives  depended  upon 
it,  as  he  says :  "  Amidst  the  leaves  of  this  plant 
numerous  species  of  fish  live,  which  nowhere  else 
could  find  food  or  shelter;  with  their  destruction  the 
many  cormorants  and  other  fishing-birds,  the  otters, 
seals,  and  porpoises,  would  soon  perish  also  ;  and 
lastly,  the  Fuegian  savage,  the  miserable  lord  of  this 


82  Charles  Darwin, 

miserable  land,  would  redouble   his  cannibal   feast, 
decrease  in  numbers,  and  perhaps  cease  to  exist." 

Tierra  del  Fuego  was  found  to  be  the  land  of  the 
glacier,  and  numerous  opportunities  were  afforded  to 
study  them,  many  valleys  being  filled  with  these 
moving  rivers  of  ice  which  formed  in  the  low  ranges 
of  mountains.  Some  of  them  gave  their  icebergs  to 
the  sea  with  blasts  and  roars  like  the  broadside  of  a 
ship  of  war.  In  Eyre's  Sound  Darwin  saw  fifty  ice- 
bergs of  large  size  floating  about  at  once,  borne  from 
the  adjacent  glaciers.  One  of  the  largest  observed, 
and  the  farthest  from  the  Pole,  was  in  the  Gulf  of 
Penas,  where  the  ice  river  was  fifteen  miles  in  length 
and  seven  broad.  Darwin's  studies  on  these  glaciers, 
and  the  laws  which  govern  them,  were  of  no  little 
value  to  scientists,  and  many  of  the  theories  regarding 
their  action  which  have  found  place  as  facts  originated 
with  him. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   FOOT   OF   THE   ANDES. 

At  Valparaiso — Andean  Life — An  Old  School-mate — An  Ocean  Bot- 
tom— In  the  Mines — Hot  Springs — Darwin  Excites  Suspicion — 
Volcanoes — Tame  Birds — The  Myopotamus — Predaceous  Gulls 
—Birds  Killed  by  Them. 


ROM  the  barren,  desolate 
shores  of  Ticrra  del  Fu- 
ego  and  Patagonia  the 
Beagle  sailed  for  Valpa- 
raiso, where  Darwin  was 
to  study  the  features  of 
life  along  the  base  of  the 
Andes.  He  was  enthu- 
siastic over  the  change, 
finding  in  the  dry,  bra- 
cmS  air  an^  clear  blue 
skies  entirely  new  condi- 
tions. The  general  aspects  of  the  country  reminded 
him  of  Santa  Cruz  in  Teneriffe,  and  from  the  bay  he 
had  his  first  glimpse  of  the  Andes  proper,  and  gazed 
upon  the  great  volcano  of  Aconcagua,  with  an  alti- 
tude estimated  by  his  f  el  low-officers  at  23,000  feet. 
83 


84  Charles  Darwin. 

At  Valparaiso  Darwin  found  an  old  school-mate, 
with  whom  he  took  up  his  residence,  making  daily 
trips  into  the  surrounding  country,  ever  showing  that 
care  and  earnest  research  that  forms  so  prominent  a 
feature  in  all  his  work.  One  of  the  rides  which  he 
took  along  the  base  of  the  Andes  was  to  the  hacienda 
of  Quintero,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  an  ancient 
section  of  ocean  bottom,  portions  of  which  were 
burned  for  the  lime  its  shells  contained.  The  mass 
was  almost  entirely  composed  of  shells,  while  the 
mould  which  covered  them  was  found,  under  micro- 
scopical examination,  to  be  marine  mud,  made  up  of 
minute  portions  of  organic  matter.  In  this  deposit 
the  young  naturalist  saw  further  evidence  of  the  vast 
upheaval  which  had  taken  place  here,  and  the  pres- 
ence of  this  ancient  beaeh  thirteen  hundred  feet 
above  the  present  ocean  level  was  viewed  by  him 
with  no  little  interest  and  wonder. 

Many  mines  were  visited  in  the  neighbouring 
country,  there  being  at  that  time  a  mining  craze  for 
gold  and  copper.  The  life  of  the  miners  was  one  to 
be  commiserated.  They  began  work  at  daylight, 
continuing  until  dark,  with  scarcely  any  intermission. 
They  received  for  their  labour  five  dollars  per  month, 
and  food  which  consisted  of  the  following:  For 
breakfast,  sixteen  figs  and  two  small  loaves  of  bread  ; 
dinner,  boiled  beans;  for  supper,  roasted  wheat 
grain.  They  rarely  tasted  meat. 

A  visit  was  made  by  Darwin  to  the  hot  springs  of 
Cauquenes,  where  mineral  water  of  some  little  me- 
dicinal value  bursts  forth  from  the  rocks.  In  1822 
an  earthquake  stopped  the  flow,  which  did  not  re- 


Floating  Islands.  85 


commence  until  the  following  year.  The  temperature 
was  said  to  change  according  to  the  season ;  thus  in 
summer  it  was  hotter  than  in  winter,  a  condition 
which  the  young  naturalist  found  difficult  to  ex- 
plain. On  his  way  to  the  Yaquil  mines  Darwin 
passed  by  the  famous  Lake  Tagua-tagua,  in  the  sur- 
face of  which  are  several  islands  which  float  about, 
carrying  various  animals  with  them.  The  wind 
governs  their  position  entirely ;  sometimes  they  are 
upon  one  side  of  the  lake,  sometimes  upon  the 
other.  The  Yaquil  miners  were  found  to  be  in 
even  a  worse  condition  than  those  previously  re- 
ferred to.  The  men,  often  very  young,  were  obliged 
to  descend  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  and  bring 
up  two  hundred  pounds  of  the  mineral.  Their 
food  consisted  of  boiled  beans  and  bread,  and  their 
pay  was  about  twenty-eight  shillings  per  month. 
Stealing  was  prevented  by  deducting  from  the  pay 
of  all  the  men  the  value  of  the  ore  taken. 

Near  these  mines  Darwin  discovered  some  ancient 
Indian  ruins,  and  secured  some  of  the  perforated 
stones  now  so  common  in  collections  from  these 
countries.  During  his  stay  nere  an  old  German  col- 
lector of  natural  objects  called  upon  him.  A  Span- 
iard happening  in  at  the  same  time,  asked  the  former 
in  the  native  language  if  he  did  not  consider  it  very 
singular  that  the  King  of  England  should  send  a  man 
to  their  country  to  pick  up  lizards  and  beetles.  The 
German,  after  some  consideration,  replied :  "  No 
man  is  so  rich  as  to  send  out  people  to  pick  up 
such  rubbish.  I  do  not  like  it.  If  one  of  us  were 
to  go  to  England  and  do  such  things,  do  you  not 


86  Charles  Darwin. 


think  the  king  would  very  soon  send  us  out  of  his 
country?" 

This  conversation,  which  was  repeated  to  the 
young  English  collector,  amused  him  not  a  little. 
The  Spaniard  was  evidently  much  interested  in  the 
same  work  as  Darwin,  as  some  time  after  he  collected 
some  caterpillars,  which  he  left  in  charge  of  a  young 
girl  to  feed  that  he  might  observe  them  when  they 
came  out.  This  fact  becoming  rumoured  through  the 
town,  the  governour  and  padres  met,  and  concluding 
that  there  was  something  heretical  about  the  unfor- 
tunate would-be  naturalist,  he  was  thrown  into  jail, 
which  probably  put  a  stop  to  all  enthusiasm  in  the 
direction  of  natural  history  research. 

Here  Darwin  had  many  opportunities  to  observe 
and  study  the  habits  of  the  puma.  He  learned  that 
it  ranged  over  the  entire  continent,  and  he  saw  its 
foot-prints  10,000  feet  up  in  the  Cordillera  of  Chili. 
Its  food  in  La  Plata  was  the  ostrich,  deer,  and 
various  small  animals.  In  Chili  it  frequently  killed 
horses  and  cattle,  and  occasionally  man.  Its  method 
of  attack  was  to  spring  upon  the  shoulders  of  it  prey  ; 
then  drawing  the  head  back  until  the  neck  of  the 
animal  was  broken.  When  its  meal  was  finished  the 
big  cat  would  lie  by  the  body,  and  thus  was  often 
discovered,  as  the  condors  flew  down  to  share  the 
feast,  and  were  in  turn  observed  by  the  hunters,  who 
unloosed  their  dogs  and  attacked  the  big  game. 

In  the  open  country  the  puma  was  lassoed,  and 
dragged  by  the  horses  until  it  was  helpless,  while  in 
other  cases  it  was  driven  into  trees  and  shot. 

The  puma   was  famous  here    for  its  cunning  in 


In  the  Chonos  Archipelago.  87 

avoiding  enemies.  Often  to  throw  dogs  from  its 
trail  it  would  leap  suddenly  to  one  side,  and  run 
backward  on  the  trail,  effectually  evading  them. 

A  portion  of  the  work  of  the  Beagle  was  the  sur- 
vey of  the  islands  of  the  Chonos  Archipelago,  which 
gave  the  young  naturalist  an  opportunity  to  examine 
what  was  a  rich  zoological  region.  He  made  his  first 
excursion  over  the  island  of  Chiloe  on  horseback, 
which  was  made  fairly  possible  by  the  log-roads 
which  were  found  everywhere.  The  natives  were 
astonished  at  the  boats  and  men,  and  thought  it  an 
attempt  to  capture  the  island.  From  the  village  of 
Chacao  the  volcano  of  Osorno  was  seen  belching 
smoke  and  cinders,  which,  in  contrast  to  the  snow 
which  covered  it,  presented  a  magnificent  spectacle. 
Near  this  was  the  volcano  of  Corcovado,  emitting 
jets  of  steam  and  smoke.  Near  by  was  still  another, 
so  that  three  active  volcanoes  of  large  size  were  seen 
at  a  glance. 

The  principal  quadruped  noticed  in  the  Chonos 
Archipelago  was  the  Myopotamus,  so  valued  for  its 
fur.  When  swimming  in  salt  water  the  young  were 
often  seen  sitting  upon  the  mother's  back.  A  small 
otter  was  occasionally  taken  here,  while  in  the  forests 
a  number  of  interesting  birds  made  melody.  One 
little  red-breasted  songster  was  an  especial  favourite, 
and  when  Darwin  stood  still  they  would  often  ap- 
proach so  near  that  he  could  almost  touch  them. 

This  little  bird  he  found  was  much  respected  by 
the  natives,  its  singular  cries  having  to  them  a  pecu- 
liar significance :  thus  one  was  a  good  sign  ;  another 
the  reverse,  while  another  still  had  a  third  meaning. 


88 


Charles  Darwin. 


Another  bird  observed  here  was  termed  the  barker, 
on  account  of  the  similarity  of  its  note  to  the  bark 
of  a  dog.  Along  the  shore  were  various  petrels  and 
gulls.  The  larger  of  the  latter  Darwin  observed 
preying  upon  small  sea-birds,  striking  them  down 
while  on  the  wing, — a  veritable  sea-hawk. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

IX  THE  EARTHQUAKE  COUNTRY. 

At  the  Bay  of  San  Carlos — Earthquakes — Destruction  of  Concepcion 
'  —  At   Talcahuana  —  Tidal  Waves  —  Poverty  of   the  Victims — 
Elevation  of  the  Coast — Darwin's  Coolness  in  Danger — Narrow 
Escapes. 

HE  volcanoes,  which  reared 
their  white  crests  high  in 
air,  were  ever  an  attraction 
to  the  young  naturalist, 
and  one  night,  when  at 
San  Carlos  Bay,  an  oppor- 
tunity was  offered  for  ob- 
serving one  in  active  play. 
The  sentry  on  guard  first 
noticed  it  as  a  star,  but  it 
gradually  increased  until 
early  in  the  morning,  when 
Darwin  with  a  glass  could 

distinctly  see  black  masses  of  matter  thrown  up 
against  the  red  glaring  reflection  of  the  subterranean 
fires.  He  learned  that  Aconcagua  was  active  on  this 
night,  and  that  a  wonderful  eruption  had  occurred 
at  Coseguina,  two  thousand  seven  hundred  miles 


go  Charles  Darwin. 


distant.  The  phenomenon  was  accompanied  by  an 
earthquake,  which  was  felt  over  an  area  covering  one 
thousand  miles.  This  same  night  Vesuvius,  Etna, 
and  even  Hecla  in  Iceland  burst  out  with  unwonted 
splendours, — a  fact  which  when  known  to  Darwin 
was  pregnant  with  suggestions  as  to  the  cause  of  the 
phenomena. 

Our  hero  was  fortunate,  if  so  we  may  term  it,  in 
being  a  witness  to  one  of  the  most  disastrous  of 
South  American  earthquakes  in  many  years,  or 
within  the  memory  of  the  oldest  inhabitant.  He 
was  on  shore  at  the  time,  and,  wearied  from  a  long 
tramp  after  specimens,  was  lying  in  the  shade  with  a 
companion,  when  suddenly  he  experienced  a  dizzy 
feeling ;  the  ground  rocked,  and  apparently  moved 
with  undulations,  which  he  judged  passed  from  east 
to  west.  He  sprang  to  his  feet  and  had  no  difficulty 
in  standing,  though  he  states  that  the  motion  made 
him  giddy,  and  he  describes  it  as  resembling  that  of 
the  movement  of  a  vessel  in  a  cross  ripple.  There 
seemed  to  be  a  breeze,  the  trees  swaying  and  the 
branches  moving  to  and  fro.  In  the  town  of  Valdivia 
and  upon  the  sea-shore  the  scene  was  different.  In 
the  former  the  inhabitants  rushed  from  the  houses 
into  the  streets  terror  stricken,  while  the  wooden 
buildings  creaked  and  groaned.  It  was  low  tide  at 
the  time,  and  the  ocean  rose  almost  immediately  to 
high-water  mark,  then  returned  again.  After  the 
principal  shocks  smaller  ones  occurred  of  lesser 
strength. 

At  the  time  Darwin  little  dreamed  of  the  destruc- 
tion this  earthquake  caused  a  few  miles  away,  but 


Destruction  of  Conception.  9 1 


when  the  Beagle  sailed  into  Concepcion  harbour  a  few 
days  later  he  landed  at  the  island  of  Quinquina, 
where  he  was  told  that  the  destruction  of  Concep- 
cion was  complete,  and  that  seventy  villages  were 
destroyed. 

The  moment  he  stepped  upon  the  beach  he  saw 
evidences  of  this,  the  sands  being  covered  with 
wreckage  of  all  kinds  :  furniture,  casks,  pieces  of 
houses,  and  objects  of  a  most  varied  character,  which 
had  been  brought  from  the  land  by  the  tidal  wave  of 
February  2Oth.  Great  rocks  were  found  high  above 
the  water,  that  had  a  few  days  before  been  sub- 
merged, and  huge  fissures  crossed  the  island  in  vari- 
ous directions,  while  masses  of  high  land  had  fallen 
to  the  beach  ;  this  was  on  so  large  a  scale  that  Dar- 
win estimated  that  the  destruction  caused  a  reduc- 
tion in  the  size  of  the  island  more  than  equal  to  the 
natural  wear  and  tear  of  a  century. 

The  day  following  his  examination  of  the  island 
Darwin  landed  at  Talcahuana  and  rode  to  the  site 
of  Concepcion.  What  had  been  a  prosperous  and 
substantial  city  was  an  unrecognisable  ruin — a  mass 
of  broken  stone  thrown  this  way  and  that,  heaped 
in  inexplicable  confusion.  The  first  shock  was  felt 
at  11:30,  identical  with  the  one  experienced  by  the 
naturalist  as  he  lay  in  the  woods.  At  the  first  quiver 
the  people  rushed  into  the  streets,  as  they  had 
done  many  a  time  before,  and  thinking  there  would 
be  no  more,  turned  to  go  back  when  another  shock 
came,  and  every  house  crumbled  and  fell  with  a 
crash.  The  shrieks  of  dead  and  dying  rent  the  air, 
while  a  white  suffocating  cloud  rose  and  hung  like  a 


Charles  Darwin. 


pall  over  the  dreadful  spectacle.  Fires  added  to 
the  horrors  of  the  scene,  while  thieves,  ghoul-like, 
stole  among  the  ruins,  beating  their  breasts,  pretend- 
ing to  cry  for  mercy,  while  robbing  the  dead  and 
dying.  The  earthquake  left  not  a  single  building 
standing  in  the  town.  The  wreck  was  complete. 
The  English  consul  informed  Darwin  that  he  was  at 
breakfast  when  the  shock  came  ;  he  rushed  out  of 
the  house,  reached  the  middle  of  the  court-yard  just 
in  time  to  escape  the  side  of  the  house,  which  thun- 
dered down  behind  him.  He  had  sufficient  presence 
of  mind  to  crawl  upon  this  heap,  and  thus  narrowly 
escaped  the  other  wall.  It  was  some  time  before  con- 
fidence was  restored  and  the  people  could  realise  the 
completeness  of  the  ruin  which  had  come  upon  them. 
At  the  town  of  Talcahuana,  near  by,  the  horrors 
of  a  tidal  wave  were  added  to  those  of  the  earth- 
quake. The  people  were  slowly  crawling  out  of  the 
ruins,  gasping  for  breath  and  vainly  peering  through 
the  white  dust,  when  some  one  uttered  cries  of  fear 
and  pointed  to  the  bay  three  or  four  miles  away, 
where  a  strange  greenish  wall  was  seen  moving  land- 
ward. The  terrified  natives  knew  not  which  way  to 
turn.  Some  rushed  for  their  boats  and  pulled  out 
to  sea,  hoping  to  ride  over  it ;  others  fell  upon  their 
knees  in  fright,  while  many  more  fled  to  the  hills. 
That  in  some  cases  they  succeeded  in  reaching  a 
place  of  safety  shows  the  deliberation  with  which 
the  wave  came  in.  It  rose  twenty  feet  above  the 
water  line,  sweeping  inland,  carrying  away  houses 
and  every  thing  in  its  path.  At  the  head  of  the  bay 
it  broke,  the  mightiest  wave  ever  seen  by  mortal 


Tidal  Waves  at  Talcakuana.  93 

man,  and  with  a  hissing,  seething  roar  rushed  upon 
the  town,  crushing  down  the  crumbling  walls,  level- 
ing them  like  chaff,  and  in  many  instances  utterly 
removing  all  evidence  of  human  habitation.  As  the 
wave  swept  by  the  fort  it  caught  a  cannon  weighing 
four  tons  and  threw  it  one  side.  A  large  schooner 
was  carried  six  hundred  feet  from  the  beach  and  left 
amid  the  ruins. 

This  wave  was  followed  by  two  others  that  car- 
ried off  a  large  amount  of  wreckage.  A  large  ship 
was  lifted  high  and  dry  upon  the  shore,  then  borne 
off  by  a  second  wave,  to  be  again  forced  up  and  car- 
ried off  by  the  third  wave.  Another  vessel  anchored 
in  thirty-six  feet  of  water  was  suddenly  left  aground, 
while  another  was  whirled  around  so  that  her  anchor- 
chain  became  twisted  about  that  of  a  vessel  anchored 
near  by ;  these  being  but  a  few  of  the  singular  fea- 
tures of  the  catastrophe. 

To  illustrate  the  utter  destitution  of  the  people, 
Darwin  states  that  Mr.  Rouse,  the  English  consul, 
took  a  party  under  his  care  for  a  week,  the  protec- 
tion being  simply  an  apple-tree  in  his  garden.  At 
the  end  of  that  time  it  began  to  rain,  and  even  then 
the  people  could  find  no  shelter,  so  complete  had 
been  the  ruin. 

In  his  inquiries  Darwin  learned  that  the  natives 
laid  all  the  trouble  to  an  old  Indian  woman,  who, 
two  years  previous,  was  supposed  to  have  stopped 
up  the  volcano  of  Antuco  in  a  fit  of  rage,  and  as 
this  particular  volcano  did  not  burst  forth  with  the 
others  at  this  time,  it  was  all  the  more  difficult  to 
convince  them  that  they  were  in  the  wrong. 


Charles  Darwin. 


The  young  naturalist  made  a  careful  examination 
of  Concepcion.  He  found  that  one  set  of  walls  in 
the  city  extended  south-west  by  west,  another  north- 
west by  north,  and  that  the  former  stood  the  shock 
by  far  the  best,  showing  in  his  estimation  that  the 
undulations  came  from  the  north-west,  from  which 
direction  subterranean  noises  and  rumblings  were 
heard.  The  fissures  in  the  earth  generally  extended 
south-east  by  north-west,  corresponding  to  some  de- 
gree with  the  undulations.  The  disturbance  in  the 
ocean  was  found  to  be  of  a  varied  nature.  With  the 
first  shock  the  water  moved  up  gently,  then  with- 
drew to  the  former  position  ;  almost  immediately  it 
began  to  retreat  seaward,  as  if  to  collect  itself,  and 
then  came  in  again  with  a  rush  upon  the  shore. 
The  first  movement  Darwin  judged  to  be  the  im- 
mediate result  of  the  earthquake  affecting  differently 
a  fluid  and  a  solid,  the  levels  being  disarranged. 
He  considered  the  permanent  elevation  of  the  land 
perhaps  the  most  remarkable  phenomenon,  as  about 
Concepcion  it  was  elevated  two  or  three  feet.  At 
the  island  of  Santa  Maria  Captain  Fitz-Roy  found 
beds  of  putrid  mussels  ten  feet  above  high  water, 
projected  there  by  the  earthquake  ;  and  as  Darwin 
came  across  beds  of  shells  at  an  elevation  of  a  thou- 
sand feet,  he  assumed  that  it  had  been  effected  by  a 
series  of  small  risings.  To  give  a  realistic  idea  of 
the  area  of  this  disturbance,  Darwin  says  : 

"  It  will  give  a  better  idea  of  the  scale  of  these 
phenomena  if  (as  in  the  case  of  the  glaciers)  we  sup- 
pose them  to  have  taken  place  at  corresponding  dis- 
tances in  Europe:  then  would  the  land  from  the 


Realistic  Description  of  the  Disturbance.    95 

North  Sea  to  the  Mediterranean  have  been  violently 
shaken,  and  at  the  same  instant  of  time  a  large  tract 
of  the  eastern  coast  of  England  would  have  been 
permanently  elevated,  together  with  some  outlying 
islands;  a  train  of  volcanoes  on  the  coast  of  Holland 
would  have  burst  forth  in  action,  and  an  eruption 
taken  place  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  near  the  north- 
ern extremity  of  Ireland  ;  and,  lastly,  the  ancient 
vents  of  Auvergne,  Cantal,  and  Mont  d'Or  would 
each  have  sent  up  to  the  sky  a  dark  column  of 
smoke,  and  have  long  remained  in  fierce  action. 
Two  years  and  three-quarters  aftenvards,  France, 
from  its  centre  to  the  English  Channel,  would  have 
been  again  desolated  by  an  earthquake,  and  an 
island  permanently  upraised  in  the  Mediterranean." 

The  naturalist's  last  experience  with  the  earth-^ 
quake  was  in  Copiap6,  a  town  of  eight  thousand  in- 
habitants. He  was  invited,  with  Captain  Fitz-Roy, 
to  dine  with  a  Mr.  Edwards,  an  English  resident, 
and  the  dinner  was  partly  over  when  a  shock  came, 
quick,  sharp,  and  decisive.  Darwin  heard  the  rumble 
in  advance,  and  remained  quiet,  watching  the  effect. 
He  naively  says :  "  But  from  the  screams  of  the 
ladies,  the  running  of  the  servants,  and  the  rush  of 
several  gentlemen  to  the  doorway,  I  could  not  dis- 
tinguish the  motion." 

This  was  characteristic  of  Darwin,  and  his  im- 
perturbability must  have  amazed  some  of  the  others. 

The  earthquake  was  a  severe  one.  Some  of  the 
ladies  cried  with  terror,  while  the  gentlemen  were 
badly  demoralised.  The  father  of  one  of  the  guests 
had  recently  experienced  the  earthquake  at  Talca- 


g6  Charles  Darwin. 

huana,  and  one  of  the  gentlemen  had  nearly  lost 
his  life  in  1822  at  Valparaiso,  jirst  escaping  a  falling 
roof.  That  they  were  easily  startled  and  understood 
the  danger  may  well  be  imagined. 

Darwin  relates  a  singular  incident  told  by  one  of 
these  gentlemen.  He  was  playing  cards  with  a  party 
when  a  German,  one  of  the  players,  started  up  say- 
ing that  he  would  not  sit  in  a  room  in  an  earthquake 
country  with  the  door  closed,  as  he  had  nearly  lost 
his  life  at  Copiapo",  whereupon  he  opened  the 
door.  As  he  did  so  the  rumble  of  the  great  earth- 
quake was  heard,  and  the  entire  party  sprang 
through,  just  in  time  to  escape. 


CHAPTER  X. 

IN  THE   RED   SNOW   COUNTRY. 

Valparaiso — The  Portillo  Pass — Land  of  the  Red  Snow— Electrical 
Conditions — A  Swarm  of  Locusts — Experiments  with  the  Redu- 
vius — A  Forest  of  Stone — Valley  of  the  Copiapo — Ruins  at  Old 
Callao — Antiquity  of  Man. 

HE  Beagle  reached  Val- 
paraiso on  March  nth, 
from  which  place  Darwin 
started  on  a  trip  across 
the  Cordillera  Mountains. 
The  party  went  by  the 
Portillo,  a  lofty  and  dan- 
gerous pass  which  led 
across  the  Andes  to  Men- 
doza.  The  scenery  was 
grand  in  the  extreme,  and 
offered  a  wide  and  varied 
field  for  geological  investigation.  As  they  ascended 
the  flora  changed,  and  the  gradual  replacement  of 
tropical  forms  by  those  of  an  alpine  character  was 
observed.  The  vast  mountains  spread  away  on  all 
sides,  offering  every  inducement  to  the  geological 
hammer  of  the  naturalist ;  and  that  a  well-defined  idea 
7  97 


98  Charles  Darwin. 

of  the  geological  structure  of  the  entire  region  was 
obtained  by  him  is  evident.  He  found  shells,  that 
formerly  lived  in  the  ocean,  in  beds  fourteen  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea.  Here  was  a  bed  which  he  sur- 
mised was  of  the  age  of  the  chalk  cliff  of  England. 

The  altitude  affected  Darwin  not  a  little,  especially 
in  walking  rapidly,  but  he  entirely  forgot  it  in  the 
delight  of  collecting  fossils,  with  which  the  region 
abounded.  The  natives  called  shortness  of  breath 
"  puna,"  and  suggested  various  remedies,  having 
singular  and  original  ideas  of  the  cause. 

The  upper  peaks  here  have  been  called  the  land 
of  the  red  snow,  and  Darwin  was  constantly  on  the 
lookout  for  its  appearance.  One  day  as  he  was 
walking  behind  the  mules  he  noticed  in  the  track  of 
one  a  reddish  line,  and  then  another,  until  finally 
the  tint  was  very  distinct,  and  the  famous  red  snow 
was  discovered — a  very  common  phenomenon  in 
this  lofty  altitude.  At  first  Darwin  thought  the 
pale  red  hue  came  from  the  dust,  blown  from  neigh- 
bouring mountains,  of  red  porphyry.  The  colour 
was  most  distinct  when  the  snow  was  thawing,  and 
if  some  of  the  latter  was  rubbed  on  a  paper  a  faint 
red  hue  was  seen,  while  under  the  microscope  were 
found  groups  of  minute  spheres  in  colourless  cases, 
each  about  a  thousandth  part  of  an  inch  in  diameter. 
The  red  snow  was,  in  reality,  a  microscopic  plant, 
Protococcus  nivalis,  and  in  the  Arctic  regions  espe- 
cially it  often  produces  wonderful  displays. 

Crossing  the  mountains  the  party  descended  on 
the  other  side  into  a  deep  valley  between  the  two 
ranges,  and  into  the  republic  of  Mendoza.  The 


Electrical  Conditions  of  the  Atmosphere.     99 

altitude  was  still  over  two  miles,  and  vegetation 
extremely  scant.  Here  the  night  was  passed,  in 
a  locality  that,  from  the  possibility  of  a  heavy  snow, 
was  extremely  dangerous,  a  cave  being  the  only  re- 
treat in  case  of  a  storm.  There  was  scarcity  of  fuel, 
and,  owing  to  the  altitude,  it  required  four  or  five 
hours  to  boil  potatoes  ;  indeed,  Darwin  boiled  his 
two  days,  and  found  them  as  hard  as  at  first. 

The  electrical  condition  of  the  atmosphere  was 
very  noticeable,  as  well  as  its  transparency.  In  re- 
ferring to  this,  he  says  :  "  The  increased  brilliancy 
of  the  moon  and  stars  at  this  elevation,  owing  to 
the  perfect  transparency  of  the  atmosphere,  was 
very  remarkable.  Travellers  having  observed  the 
difficulty  of  judging  heights  and  distances  amidst 
lofty  mountains,  have  generally  attributed  it  to  the 
absence  of  objects  of  comparison.  It  appears  to  me 
that  it  is  fully  as  much  owing  to  the  transparency  of 
the  air  confounding  objects  at  different  distances, 
and  likewise  partly  to  the  novelty  of  an  unusual  de- 
gree of  fatigue  arising  from  a  little  exertion,  habit 
being  thus  opposed  to  the  evidence  of  the  senses.  I 
am  sure  that  this  extreme  clearness  of  the  air  gives 
a  peculiar  character  to  the  landscape,  all  objects  ap- 
pearing to  be  brought  nearly  into  one  plane,  as  in  a 
drawing  or  panorama.  The  transparency  is,  I  pre- 
sume, owing  to  the  equable  and  high  state  of  atmos- 
pheric dryness.  This  dryness  was  shown  by  the 
manner  in  which  woodwork  shrank  (as  I  soon  found 
by  the  trouble  my  geological  hammer  gave  me)  ;  by 
articles  of  food,  such  as  bread  and  sugar,  becoming 
extremely  hard  ;  and  by  the  preservation  of  the  skin 


I  ob  Charles  Darwin. 

and  parts  of  the  flesh  of  the  beasts  which  had  perished 
on  the  road.  To  the  same  cause  we  must  attribute 
the  singular  facility  with  which  electricity  is  excited. 
My  flannel  waistcoat,  when  rubbed  in  the  dark,  ap- 
peared as  if  it  had  been  washed  with  phosphorus  ; 
every  hair  on  a  dog's  back  crackled  ;  even  the  linen 
sheets,  and  leathern  straps  of  the  saddle,  when 
handled,  emitted  sparks." 

The  descent  was  made  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Cordilleras,  where  a  magnificent  view  of  the  pampas 
was  obtained.  An  immediate  difference  between 
the  vegetation  was  apparent,  though  the  soil  and 
climate  were  materially  like  that  of  the  country  re- 
cently passed.  The  same  was  true  of  the  fauna, 
many  Patagonian  forms  being  seen,  among  them 
the  Agouti,  Biscacha,  three  species  of  armadillo,  and 
ostrich. 

As  they  descended  into  the  valley  Darwin  had  his 
first  experience  with  the  locust.  He  was  near  the 
village  of  Luxan,  when  he  noticed  a  large  ragged 
cloud,  reddish  brown  in  colour.  It  was  at  first  sup- 
posed to  be  smoke  from  a  pampas  fire,  but  soon 
developed  into  a  swarm  of  locusts.  The  vast  con- 
gregation was  moving  to  the  north  at  a  rate  of 
fifteen  miles  an  hour.  They  completely  filled  the 
air  from  a  height  of  twenty  feet  from  the  ground  to 
nearly  half  a  mile  above  it,  and  made  a  noise  as  they 
flew  like  the  rustling  of  a  mighty  wind,  or,  as  Dar- 
win said,  of  a  breeze  through  the  rigging  of  a  ship. 
Where  they  were  the  thickest  the  sky  was  wholly 
obscured.  They  occasionally  alighted  upon  the 
ground,  so  completely  covering  it  that  it  changed 


A  Forest  of  Stone.  101 

before  the  observer's  eye  from  green  to  brown.  The 
locusts  were  a  common  pest  here,  and  often  threat- 
ened the  crops  of  the  natives,  their  only  salvation 
being  to  wage  a  war  of  fire  against  them. 

Crossing  the  Luxan,  the  village  of  that  name  was 
reached,  where  the  night  was  spent  in  repelling  the 
attacks  of  the  reduvius — a  black  bug  that  is  a  most 
courageous  blood-sucker.  To  test  the  pugnacity  of 
this  creature  Darwin  placed  one  upon  a  table,  where, 
if  a  finger  was  pointed  at  it,  the  blood-thirsty  insect 
would  protrude  its  sucker  and  charge  at  it. 

Of  the  people  of  Mendoza  Darwin  quotes  the 
description  of  Sir  F.  Head  :  "  They  eat  their  dinners, 
and  it  is  so  very  hot  they  go  to  sleep — and  could 
they  do  better?"  Darwin  adds:  "I  quite  agree 
with  Sir  F.  Head  :  the  happy  doom  of  the  Mendo- 
zinos  is  to  eat,  sleep,  and  be  idle." 

Darwin  returned  to  Chili  by  the  Pass  of  Uspallata, 
and  here  also  he  made  careful  geological  studies. 
To  show  his  prescience,  upon  discovering  a  layer  of 
tertiary  beds  resembling  some  in  which  he  had 
found  fossil  trees,  he  began  to  search  for  them  here 
with  most  satisfactory  results,  as  in  the  central  por- 
tion of  the  range,  a  mile  above  the  sea,  he  noticed 
numbers  of  snow-white  columns  projecting  from  a 
cliff.  Here  was  a  forest  of  stone,  one  of  the  most 
interesting  finds  he  made,  the  trees  extending  in 
every  direction,  some  silicified,  and  others  coarsely 
crystallised  white  calcareous  spar.  Nearly  all  were 
broken  off  near  the  ground,  and  were  from  four  to 
five  feet  in  circumference.  Darwin  took  sections  of 
them  as  specimens,  and  found  that  they  were  firs,  or 


IO2  Charles  Darwin. 

allied  to  that  family.  In  the  following  graphic 
terms  he  describes  the  wondrous  changes  that  re- 
sulted in  producing  this  group  of  trees :  "  It  required 
little  geological  practice  to  interpret  the  marvellous 
story  which  this  scene  at  once  unfolded  ;  though,  I 
confess,  I  was  at  first  so  much  astonished  that  I 
could  scarcely  believe  the  plainest  evidence.  I  saw 
the  spot  where  a  cluster  of  fine  trees  once  waved 
their  branches  on  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  when 
that  ocean  (now  driven  back  seven  hundred  miles') 
came  to  the  foot  of  the  Andes.  I  saw  that  they  had 
sprung  from  a  volcanic  soil  which  had  been  raised 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  that  subsequently 
this  dry  land  with  its  upright  trees  had  been  let 
down  into  the  depths  of  the  ocean.  In  these  depths 
the  formerly  dry  land  was  covered  by  sedimentary 
beds,  and  these  again  by  enormous  streams  of  sub- 
marine lava — one  such  mass  attaining  the  thickness 
of  a  thousand  feet, — and  these  deluges  of  molten 
stone  and  aqueous  deposits  five  times  alternately 
had  been  spread  out.  The  ocean  which  received 
such  thick  masses  must  have  been  profoundly  deep ; 
but  again  the  subterranean  forces  exerted  them- 
selves, and  I  now  beheld  the  bed  of  that  ocean 
forming  a  chain  of  mountains  more  than  seven  thou- 
sand feet  in  height." 

Darwin  completed  this  trip,  collecting  all  the  way, 
and  from  Valparaiso  rode  on  to  Copiapd,  where 
Captain  Fitz-Roy  proposed  to  pick  him  up.  It  was 
an  excursion  to  his  liking.  Travelling  on  horseback, 
camping  at  night,  the  day  spent  in  collecting  and 
investigating  every  interesting  feature,  while  at  even- 


In  Peru.  103 


ing  the  treasures  of  birds,  insects,  and  fossils  were 
cared  for  and  packed  upon  the  mules. 

On  these  expeditions  he  was  a  constant  source  of 
wonderment  to  the  natives.  Some  thought  him 
mad  or  simple,  for  who,  they  argued,  would  spend 
time  and  money  in  killing  birds  one  could  not  eat, 
and  picking  up  the  most  worthless  rocks  and  leaving 
the  minerals.  As  he  paid  well  for  services,  they 
were  content,  but  he  was  ever  a  mystery. 

The  valley  of  the  Copiapo  was  a  delightful  region, 
and  among  its  interesting  features  was  a  hill  the 
natives  called  "  El  Bramador,"  or  the  roarer,  as 
when  persons  attempted  to  climb  its  sides  it  emitted 
an  audible  warning  sound,  especially  if  sand  was 
sent  whirling  down  its  sides.  From  Copiapo  Dar- 
win rode  to  the  port  where  the  Beagle  was  lying, 
and  which  at  once  set  sail  for  Iquique,  on  the  coast 
of  Peru,  a  small  town  at  the  base  of  a  rocky  cliff, 
so  barren  that  even  water  had  to  be  brought  in 
boats  forty  miles  to  supply  the  inhabitants.  Dar- 
win bought  a  bottle  of  water  here,  paying  three- 
pence for  it.  Almost  every  article  had  to  be  im- 
ported, yet  the  town  was  important  for  its  nitrate 
of  soda  works,  which  the  naturalist  visited,  finding 
the  deposit  to  consist  of  a  stratum  near  the  surface 
which  had  been  traced  for  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles,  and  represented,  he  assumed,  an  ancient  arm 
of  the  ocean,  though  now  elevated  thirty-three  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  sea.  From  here  the  Beagle  sailed 
for  Callao,  where  though  a  stay  of  six  weeks  was 
made,  Darwin  saw  little  of  the  country,  as  it  was 
not  safe  to  venture  into  the  open  on  account  of 


IO4  Charles  Darwin. 

a  war  that  was  impending.  Near  Lima  he  exam- 
ined the  burial  mounds,  or  kuacas,  and  the  ruins 
of  some  ancient  Indian  villages  ;  but  the  ruins  which 
most  impressed  him  were  those  of  old  Callao,  all 
that  remained  after  a  most  destructive  tidal  wave  in 
1746.  His  trip  to  the  island  of  San  Lorenzo  in 
Callao  Bay  was  pregnant  with  results,  the  field  be- 
ing rich,  geologically.  In  one  terrace  eighty-five  feet 
up,  his  quick  eye  discovered  some  bits  of  cotton 
thread  and  plaited  rushes  embedded  with  shells  and 
other  rubbish  from  the  ocean,  the  former  comparing 
with  material  he  took  from  the  old  Peruvian  tombs. 
This  discovery  gave  him  many  new  ideas  concern- 
ing the  antiquity  of  man,  and  he  writes  in  his  note- 
book :  "  The  antiquity  of  the  Indo-human  race  here, 
judging  by  the  eighty-five  feet  rise  of  the  land  since 
the  relics  were  embedded,  is  the  more  remarkable, 
as  on  the  coast  of  Patagonia,  when  the  land  stood 
about  the  same  number  of  feet  lower,  the  Macrau- 
chenia  was  a  living  beast ;  but  as  the  Patagonian  coast 
is  some  way  distant  from  the  Cordillera,  the  rising 
there  may  have  been  slower  than  here.  At  Bahia 
Blanca,  the  elevation  has  been  only  a  few  feet  since 
the  numerous  gigantic  quadrupeds  were  there  en- 
tombed ;  and,  according  to  the  generally  received 
opinion,  when  these  extinct  animals  were  living  man 
did  not  exist.  But  the  rising  of  that  part  of  the 
coast  of  Patagonia  is  perhaps  noways  connected 
with  the  Cordillera,  but  rather  with  a  line  of  old 
volcanic  rocks  in  Banda  Oriental,  so  that  it  may 
have  been  infinitely  slower  than  on  the  shores  of 
Peru.  All  these  speculations,  however,  must  be 


Antiquity  of  Man. 


vague ;  for  who  will  pretend  to  say  that  there  may 
not  have  been  several  periods  of  subsidence  inter- 
calated between  the  movements  of  elevation  ?  for 
we  know  that  along  the  whole  coast  of  Patagonia 
there  have  certainly  been  many  and  long  pauses  in 
the  upward  action  of  the  elevatory  forces." 


CHAPTER  XL 

AMONG   THE   OCEAN  VOLCANOES. 

Galapagos  Islands — Number  of  Craters — Gigantic  Tortoises — Land 
and  Marine  Lizards — New  Marine  Forms — Flora — Number  of 
Cryptogamic  Plants — Variety  of  Forms  on  the  Different  Islands 
— Tameness  of  the  Birds. 

N  the  month  of  September 
the  Beagle  crossed  the  line 
again,  this  time  on  the  Pa- 
cific side,  and  cast  anchor 
among  the  islands  of  the 
Galapagos  Archipelago, 
that  are  simply  a  group 
of  oceanic  craters  that 
have  forced  their  way  up 
through  the  ocean  here, 
and  in  the  course  of  time 
attained  a  somewhat  lim- 
ited fauna  and  flora. 

The  islands  Darwin  found  were  all  volcanic  rock, 
some  of  the  craters  which  he  visited  being  of  vast 
dimensions,  rising  three  or  four  thousand  feet,  their 
sides  pierced  with  small  but  ancient  orifices  from 
which  in  the  olden  time  lava  had  flowed.  A  some- 
106 


ELEPHANT  TORTOISE,    GALAPAGOS   ISLANDS. 


Gigantic  Tortoises,  107 

what  careful  estimate  made  by  him  resulted  in 
showing  that  in  the  entire  archipelago  there  were 
probably  not  less  than  two  thousand  craters.  On 
Chatham  Island  Darwin  camped,  surrounded  by 
black  truncated  cones,  which  were  so  numerous  that 
he  counted  sixty  from  one  spot. 

As  the  name  suggests,  the  islands  are  called  after 
the  large  tortoises  which  abound  there,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  several  were  found  by  Darwin,  who 
estimated  their  weight  at  two  hundred  pounds  each. 
One  was  feeding  upon  some  cactus  and  hardly  no- 
ticed him.  Some  of  the  tortoises  attained  to  large 
size,  specimens  being  heard  of  which  required  eight 
men  to  lift  and  afforded  two  hundred  pounds  of 
meat  alone. 

One  of  the  first  peculiarities  on  Chatham  Island 
noticed  by  the  naturalist  was  the  lanes  and  paths 
which  led  in  every  direction.  These  were  the  trails 
worn  by  the  island  giants.  The  springs  to  which 
the  animals  were  obliged  to  crawl  for  water  were 
situated  in  the  interior,  and  here  he  had  an  opportu- 
nity to  watch  them  wallowing  about  and  covering 
themselves  up  in  the  mud. 

To  test  the  speed  of  the  turtles,  Darwin  watched 
one  for  some  time,  and  found  that  it  walked  at  the 
rate  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  in  ten  minutes, 
or  1, 080  feet  in  an  hour,  or  at  a  rate  of  four  miles  per 
day.  To  show  the  strength  of  the  animal,  he  states 
that  he  frequently  stood  upon  the  back  of  one  and 
struck  it,  whereupon  it  would  move  away,  generally 
throwing  him  off. 

Chatham  Island  and  its  life  had  a  peculiar  interest 


io8  Charles  Darwin. 

to  the  naturalist,  as  he  found  that  the  animals  were 
unlike  those  of  other  lands,  there  being  even  a  dif- 
ference in  the  forms  living  upon  the  various  islands. 
He  says  :  "  The  archipelago  is  a  little  world  within 
itself,  or  rather  a  satellite  attached  to  America, 
whence  it  has  derived  a  few  stray  colonists,  and  has 
received  the  general  character  of  its  indigenous  pro- 
ductions. Considering  the  small  size  of  these  islands, 
we  feel  the  more  astonished  at  the  number  of  their 
aboriginal  beings,  and  at  their  confined  range.  See- 
ing every  height  crowned  with  its  crater,  and  the 
boundaries  of  most  of  the  lava-streams  still  distinct, 
we  are  led  to  believe  that  within  a  period  geologi- 
cally recent  the  unbroken  ocean  was  here  spread  out. 
Hence,  both  in  space  and  time,  we  seem  to  be 
brought  somewhat  near  to  that  great  fact — that 
mystery  of  mysteries — the  first  appearance  of  new 
beings  on  this  earth." 

Darwin  was  indefatigable  in  his  collecting,  and 
succeeded  in  finding  twenty-six  species  of  birds,  all 
with  one  exception  peculiar  to  the  group. 

The  most  striking  objects,  next  to  the  tortoises, 
were  the  lizards,  which,  especially  the  one  known  to 
science  as  Amblyrhynchus — a  most  singular  creature, 
— were  indigenous  to  the  spot.  Two  species  were 
found,  one  being  a  land-loving  form,  while  the 
other  took  to  the  water  readily  and  lived  on  sea- 
weed. The  lizards  ranged  from  four  to  five  feet  in 
length,  and  weighed  about  twenty  pounds,  and  were 
extremely  disagreeable  creatures  in  every  way. 
Their  tails  were  flat  and  used  as  paddles,  and  num- 
bers had  been  seen  swimming  out  in  the  water  in 


Features  of  the  Galapagos  Islands.       109 


droves  or  herds.  It  might  be  assumed  that  they 
lived  upon  fish,  but  Darwin  opened  the  stomach  of 
several  and  found  their  food  to  consist  of  sea-weed, 
which  he  found  they  obtained  by  diving.  When 
approached,  they  lazily  crawled  away,  squirting  a 
drop  of  fluid  from  the  nostrils  when  suddenly 
alarmed. 

In  examining  the  land  species  Darwin  found  that 
it  had  a  round  tail,  and  feet  without  webs,  and  so 
plentiful  were  they  on  James  Island  that  it  was  dif- 
ficult to  find  a  place  to  pitch  the  tent  free  from 
their  burrows.  Like  the  turtles,  they  lived  upon 
the  cactus. 

The  islands  proved  a  rich  collecting  ground  for 
marine  forms,  fifteen  fish  being  found  here  new  to 
science  ;  also  sixteen  new  land-shells.  The  insects 
proved  a  disappointment  to  Darwin,  who  remarks 
that  he  never  saw  so  poor  a  country  in  this  respect, 
though  twenty-five  species  of  beetles  were  collected, 
among  which  were  several  new  genera.  Of  flower- 
ing plants  he  discovered  one  hundred  and  eighty-five 
species,  and  forty-eight  cryptogamic  forms,  one  hun- 
dred of  the  former  being  new  to  science  and  indi- 
genous to  the  archipelago. 

The  fact  that  seemed  to  have  made  the  most  im- 
pression upon  the  naturalist's  mind  was  that  the 
various  islands,  all  in  a  group  by  themselves,  should 
possess  different  inhabitants.  "  My  attention,"  he 
says,  "  was  first  called  to  this  fact  by  the  vice-gov- 
ernour  declaring  that  the  tortoises  differed  from  the 
different  islands,  and  that  he  could  with  certainty 
tell  from  which  island  any  one  was  brought.  I  did 


no  Charles  Darwin. 

not  for  some  time  pay  sufficient  attention  to  this 
statement,  and  I  had  already  partially  mingled  to- 
gether the  collections  from  two  of  the  islands.  I 
never  dreamed  that  islands  about  fifty  or  sixty  miles 
apart,  and  most  of  them  in  sight  of  each  other, 
formed  of  precisely  the  same  rocks,  placed  under  a 
quite  similar  climate,  rising  to  a  nearly  equal  height, 
would  have  been  differently  tenanted.  It  is  the  fate 
of  most  voyagers  no  sooner  to  discover  what  is  most 
interesting  in  any  locality  than  they  are  hurried  from 
it ;  but  I  ought,  perhaps,  to  be  thankful  that  I  ob- 
tained sufficient  materials  to  establish  this  most 
remarkable  fact  in  the  distribution  of  organic 
beings." 

Even  the  birds  varied  in  the  different  islands,  and 
in  an  examination  of  the  insects  collected  by  Darwin 
Mr.  Waterhouse  states  that  none  were  common  to 
any  two  of  the  islands.  The  same  was  to  a  certain 
extent  true  with  the  plants.  As  to  the  reason  for 
this  Darwin  says :  "  The  only  light  which  I  can 
throw  on  this  remarkable  difference  in  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  different  islands  is,  that  very  strong 
currents  of  the  sea,  running  in  a  westerly  and  west- 
north-westerly  direction,  must  separate,  as  far  as 
transportation  by  the  sea  is  concerned,  the  southern 
islands  from  the  northern  ones  ;  and  between  these 
northern  islands  a  strong  north-west  current  was  ob- 
served, which  must  effectually  separate  James  and 
Albemarle  Islands.  As  the  archipelago  is  free  to  a 
remarkable  degree  from  gales  of  wind,  neither  the 
birds,  insects,  nor  lighter  seeds  would  be  blown  from 
island  to  island.  And  lastly,  the  profound  depth  of 


Tameness  of  the  Birds.  ill 

the  ocean  between  the  islands,  and  their  apparently 
recent  (in  a  geological  sense)  volcanic  origin,  render 
it  highly  unlikely  that  they  were  ever  united  ;  and 
this,  probably,  is  a  far  more  important  consideration 
than  any  other,  with  respect  to  the  geographical 
distribution  of  their  inhabitants.  Reviewing  the 
facts  here  given,  one  is  astonished  at  the  amount  of 
creative  force,  if  such  an  expression  may  be  used, 
displayed  on  these  small,  barren,  and  rocky  islands, 
and  still  more  so  at  its  diverse  yet  analogous  action 
on  points  so  near  each  other.  I  have  said  that  the 
Galapagos  Archipelago  might  be  called  a  satellite 
attached  to  America,  but  it  should  rather  be  called 
a  group  of  satellites,  physically  similar,  organically 
distinct,  yet  intimately  related  to  each  other,  and 
all  related  in  a  marked  though  much  lesser  degree, 
to  the  great  American  continent." 

One  of  the  most  singular,  indeed  remarkable,  feat- 
ures of  life  here  was  the  tameness  of  the  birds. 
They  did  not  appear  to  know  what  a  man  was,  and 
could  be  picked  up  by  the  hand  or  killed  with  a 
switch.  Darwin  frequently  caught  them  in  his  hat, 
and  actually  pushed  a  hawk  from  a  limb  on  which  it 
was  perched.  While  lying  upon  a  rock,  a  mocking- 
bird alighted  upon  a  pitcher  by  his  side,  and  began 
to  sip  the  water,  allowing  him  to  take  the  vessel 
from  the  ground  while  upon  it.  On  Charles  Island 
he  saw  a  boy  sitting  by  a  well  with  a  bunch  of  dead 
birds  which  he  had  killed  with  a  switch  as  they  came 
there  to  drink. 

From  these  observations  the  naturalist  concluded 
that  "  the  wildness  of  birds  with  regard  to  man  is  a 


H2  Charles  Darwin. 

particular  instinct  directed  against  him,  and  not  de- 
pendent on  any  general  degree  of  caution  arising 
from  other  sources  of  danger ;  secondly,  that  it  is 
not  acquired  by  individual  birds  in  a  short  time, 
even  when  much  persecuted,  but  that  in  the  course 
of  successive  generations  it  becomes  hereditary. 
With  domesticated  animals  we  are  accustomed  to 
see  new  mental  habits  or  instincts  acquired  and 
rendered  hereditary,  but  with  animals  in  a  state  of 
nature  it  must  always  be  most  difficult  to  discover 
instances  of  acquired  hereditary  knowledge.  In 
regard  to  the  wildness  of  birds  towards  man  there 
is  no  way  of  accounting  for  it  except  as  an  in- 
herited habit :  comparatively  few  young  birds,  in 
any  one  year,  have  been  injured  by  man  in  Eng- 
land, yet  almost  all,  even  nestlings,  are  afraid  of 
him  ;  many  individuals,  on  the  other  hand,  both  at 
the  Galapagos  and  Falklands,  have  been  pursued 
and  injured  by  man,  but  yet  have  not  learned  a 
salutary  dread  of  him.  We  may  infer  from  these 
facts  what  havoc  the  introduction  of  any  new  beast 
of  prey  must  cause  in  a  country  before  the  instincts 
of  the  indigenous  inhabitants  have  become  adapted 
to  the  stranger's  craft  or  power." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

IN  THE   GARDENS   OF  THE   SEA. 

Keeling  Island — Among  the  Corals — Towed  by  a  Turtle — Sagacity  of 
the  Birgos — Stinging  Corals — Coral-Eating  Fish — Theories  Re- 
garding Reef  Structure — Mauritius — Extinction  of  Animals  at  St. 
Helena — Return  to  England. 

ROM  the  Galapagos  Is- 
lands Darwin  sailed  to 
Tahiti,  thirty-two  hun- 
dred miles,  and  then  to 
New  Zealand  and  Aus- 
tralia, reaching  Keeling 
Island  in  the  month  of 
April.  Here  he  found 
one  of  the  richest  fields 
for  operation  of  the  en- 
tire voyage,  vast  beds  of 
growing  coral  extending 
in  every  direction,  con- 
cealing myriads  of  forms  new  to  his  eyes,  and  of 
striking  beauty.  It  was  here  that  he  formed  some 
of  his  theories  regarding  the  nature  and  origin  of 
coral  reefs,  that  created  so  much  discussion  in  later 
years. 

Collecting  on  shore  he  found  disappointing,  the 
8  113 


H4  Charles  Darwin. 

list  of  animals  and  plants  being  very  restricted,  but 
when  he  turned  to  the  ocean,  here  indeed  was  a 
field  in  which  months  might  be  expended  without 
exhausting  its  treasures.  Hardly  a  day  passed  but 
the  young  naturalist  went  out  on  the  great  reef  and 
wandered  among  the  coral  groves,  often  combining 
no  little  sport  with  the  more  aesthetic  pleasures  of 
collecting.  Thus  one  day,  with  Captain  Fitz-Roy, 
he  was  pulled  up  a  lagoon,  which  abounded  in 
turtles.  A  man  was  stationed  in  the  bow,  and  as 
one  was  sighted  asleep  on  the  bottom,  he  dived 
over,  caught  it  by  the  neck,  and  was  borne  away  at 
a  high  rate  of  speed,  much  to  the  amusement  of  the 
lookers  on.  Here,  buried  in  the  mud,  was  found  the 
giant  clam,  that  is  so  powerful  that  natives  have 
been  caught  and  held  until  the  shell  was  dug  out  and 
the  animal  killed. 

Keeling,  as  well  as  the  other  islands  of  the  group, 
was  an  atoll,  a  narrow  reef,  surrounding  a  shallow 
lagoon,  the  former  bearing  cocoa-nut  trees  and  other 
plants,  the  seeds  of  which  had  washed  ashore.  To 
show  the  divining  mind  of  Darwin,  a  green  stone 
rock  was  found  in  the  conglomerate  of  one  of  the 
outer  islands  that  was  so  entirely  foreign  to  the  sur- 
roundings that  it  was  evident  that  it  must  have 
been  brought  there.  Darwin  assumed  that  it  must 
have  come  in  the  grasp  of  a  tree  root,  and  his  theory 
was  shown  to  be  plausible  later,  when  he  learned 
from  Chamisso,  the  naturalist,  that  the  natives  of  the 
Radack  Archipelago  obtained  stones  for  various  pur- 
poses by  hunting  in  the  roots  of  trees  that  washed 
ashore. 


BIRCOS    OR   COCOA-NUT   CRA] 


Sagacity  of  the  Birgos.  115 

In  wandering  over  Keeling  Island  the  naturalist's 
attention  was  immediately  attracted  by  the  giant 
land-crab,  Birgos,  which  lived  here,  feeding  upon 
cocoa-nuts.  The  crab  is,  in  reality,  a  close  ally  of 
the  hermit  variety,  having,  instead  of  a  shell,  an  ab- 
domen protected  by  an  armor.  That  such  a  creature 
can  open  a  cocoa-nut,  which  man  finds  difficult,  even 
with  a  hatchet,  seems  incredible,  yet  it  is  a  very 
simple  matter  for  the  big  crustacean.  It  begins  by 
tearing  away  the  husk,  bit  by  bit,  fibre  by  fibre,  and, 
what  is  remarkable,  always  at  the  end  bearing  the 
two  eye-holes.  When  the  husk  has  been  removed, 
the  crab  hammers  away  at  the  holes  with  its  large 
claw  until  an  opening  is  made.  But  then  one  may 
ask,  how  can  it  obtain  the  meat  ?  The  crab  solves 
this  by  turning  around  and  inserting  its  long  slender 
fifth  claw  into  the  orifice,  which,  being  armed  with 
pincers,  takes  out  the  meat  bit  by  bit.  "  I  think,"  says 
Darwin,  "  this  is  as  curious  a  case  of  instinct  as  ever 
I  heard  of,  and  likewise  of  adaptation  in  structure 
between  two  objects  apparently  so  remote  from  each 
other  in  the  scheme  of  nature  as  a  crab  and  a  cocoa- 
nut  tree.  The  Birgos  is  diurnal  in  its  habits ;  but 
every  night  it  is  said  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  sea,  no 
doubt  for  the  purpose  of  moistening  its  branchiae. 
The  young  are  likewise  hatched,  and  live  for  some 
time  on  the  coast.  These  crabs  inhabit  deep  bur- 
rows, which  they  hollow  out  beneath  the  roots  of 
trees,  and  where  they  accumulate  surprising  quanti- 
ties of  the  picked  fibres  of  the  cocoa-nut  husk,  on 
which  they  rest,  as  in  a  bed.  The  Malays  some- 
times take  advantage  of  this,  and  collect  the  fibrous 


XI6  Charles  Darwin. 

mass  to  use  as  junk.  It  has  been  stated  by  some 
authors  that  the  Birgos  crawls  up  the  cocoa-nut  trees 
for  the  purpose  of  stealing  the  nuts  ;  I  very  much 
doubt  the  possibility  of  this.  I  was  told  by  Mr. 
Liesk  that  on  these  islands  the  Birgos  lives  only  on 
the  nuts  which  have  fallen  to  the  ground.  To  show 
the  wonderful  strength  of  the  front  pair  of  pincers, 
I  may  mention  that  Captain  Moresby  confined  one 
in  a  strong  tin  box,  which  had  held  biscuits,  the  lid 
being  secured  with  wire ;  but  the  crab  turned  down 
the  edges  and  escaped.  In  turning  down  the  edges 
it  actually  punched  many  small  holes  quite  through 
the  tin  !  " 

Among  the  discomforts  of  the  reef  were  the  sting- 
ing corals,  millepora,  the  big  black  echini,  whose  long 
slender  spines  projected  everywhere  above  the  sur- 
face. Among  the  coral  were  many  fish  of  resplen- 
dant  colouring,  the  parrot-fish,  or  Scarus,  attracting 
Darwin's  attention  for  the  reason  that  it  was  a  coral 
eater,  the  jaws  being  provided  with  bony  ivory-like 
teeth  well  adapted  for  this  purpose.  Darwin  saw  in 
these  coral-eating  fish,  the  holothurians  that  ate  mud 
and  ground  it  up,  the  worms  and  shells,  the  agents 
which  were  at  work  here  in  lagoon-making,  the  white 
deposit  of  mud  being  mainly  due  to  them — a  sug- 
gestion that  has  been  shown  to  contain  much  truth. 

The  dredging  about  Keeling  Island  was  suggestive 
to  Darwin  of  interesting  theories  regarding  the  struc- 
ture of  reefs.  Thus  he  found  that  at  a  distance  of 
twenty-two  hundred  yards  from  the  shore  the  water 
suddenly  deepened,  so  that  a  line  over  a  mile  in 
length  found  no  bottom ;  hence  he  assumed  that  the 


Interesting  Study  of  Coral  Reefs.        117 

atoll  was  a  submerged  and  lofty  mountain,  with  a 
summit  ten  miles  across,  and  sides  more  precipitous 
than  any  peak  on  land.  "  Every  single  atom,"  he 
says,  "  from  the  least  particle  to  the  largest  fragment 
of  rock  in  this  great  pile,  which,  however,  is  small 
compared  with  very  many  other  lagoon-islands,  bears 
the  stamp  of  having  being  subjected  to  organic 
arrangement.  We  feel  surprise  when  travellers  tell 
us  of  the  vast  dimensions  of  the  Pyramids  and  other 
great  ruins,  but  how  utterly  insignificant  when  com- 
pared to  these  mountains  of  stone,  accumulated  by 
the  agency  of  various  minute  and  tender  animals! 
This  is  a  wonder  which  does  not  at  first  strike  the 
eye  of  the  body,  but,  after  reflection,  the  eye  of 
reason." 

Much  time  and  attention  was  devoted  to  the  study 
of  coral  reefs  while  here,  and  later  was  given  to  the 
world  the  results  of  the  naturalist's  investigations  on 
the  theory  of  subsidence,  which  caused  no  little  con- 
troversy between  Darwin,  Semper,  and  several  others. 

Darwin  found  three  classes  of  reefs  :  atolls,  barrier, 
and  fringing  reefs,  and  by  a  careful  system  of  dred- 
ging from  the  Beagle  became  convinced  that  reef  coral 
does  not  grow  in  a  greater  depth  than  one  hundred 
and  eighty  feet.  From  this  he  assumed  that  there 
must  have  been  an  original  base  for  all  the  coral 
islands  at  a  depth  greater  than  that  given.  He  saw 
banks  and  shoals  in  the  ocean  miles  in  length,  and  in 
one  case  fifteen  hundred  miles  long  where  it  would 
seem  impossible  for  the  deposit  to  have  been  made 
by  currents  or  winds.  How,  then,  was  the  base  of 
the  coral  island  deposited?  An  elevation  of  beds  of 


Charles  Darwin. 


sediment  he  considered  impossible,  as  had  this  been 
the  case  the  atolls  would  have  shown  lofty  pinnacles 
and  rocks  elevated  above  the  surface. 

From  a  consideration  of  this  he  formulated  a 
theory  of  subsidence,  which  Jie  says  "  at  once  solves 
the  difficulty."  He  assumed  that  these  islands  were 
formed  in  areas  of  subsidence,  that  mountains  and 
plateaux  were  sinking  or  subsiding,  and  that  the 
coral  was,  in  brief,  forming  at  a  sufficiently  rapid 
rate  to  keep  it  at  the  surface, — a  belief  in  which 
Dana,  the  American  naturalist,  joined  and  which 
was  generally  accepted.  Professor  Semper  was  one 
of  the  first  to  suggest  another  theory,  and  the  follow- 
ing letter  from  Darwin,  written  many  years  later, 
may  be  read  with  interest  in  this  connection  as  illus- 
trating the  extreme  courtesy  with  which  he  met 
those  who  differed  with  him,  and  the  evident  desire 
to  cooperate  with  others  in  bringing  out  the  great 
truths  of  nature  at  whatever  cost : 

"  October  2,  1879. 

"  My  dear  Professor  Semper : — I  thank  you  for  your 
extremely  kind  letter  of  the  iQth  and  for  the  proof- 
sheets.  I  believe  that  I  understand  all,  excepting 
one  or  two  sentences  where  my  imperfect  knowledge 
of  German  has  interfered.  This  is  my  sole  excuse 
for  the  mistake  which  I  made  in  the  second  edition 
of  my  Coral-book.  Your  account  of  the  Pelew 
Islands  is  a  fine  addition  to  our  knowledge  on  coral 
reefs.  I  have  very  little  to  say  on  the  subject ;  even 
if  I  had  formerly  read  your  account  and  seen  your 
maps,  but  had  known  nothing  of  the  proofs  of  recent 


Theories  Regarding  Reef  Structure.     119 

elevation,  and  of  your  belief  that  the  islands  have 
not  since  subsided,  I  have  no  doubt  that  I  should 
have  considered  them  as  formed  during  subsidence. 
But  I  should  have  been  much  troubled  in  my  mind 
by  the  sea  not  being  so  deep  as  it  usually  is  round 
atolls,  and  by  the  reef  on  one  side  sloping  so  grad- 
ually beneath  the  sea;  for  this  latter  fact,  as  far 
as  my  memory  serves  me,  is  a  very  unusual  and  al- 
most unparalleled  case.  I  always  foresaw  that  a  bank 
at  the  proper  depth  beneath  the  surface  would  give 
rise  to  a  reef  which  could  not  be  distinguished  from 
an  atoll  formed  during  subsidence.  I  must  still  ad- 
here to  my  opinion  that  the  atolls  and  barrier- reefs 
in  the  middle  of  the  Pacific  and  Indian  Oceans  indi- 
cate subsidence  ;  but  I  fully  agree  with  you  that 
such  cases  as  that  of  the  Pelew  Islands,  if  of  at  all 
frequent  occurrence,  would  make  my  general  conclu- 
sions of  very  little  value.  Future  observers  must  de- 
cide between  us.  It  will  be  a  strange  fact  if  there 
has  not  been  subsidence  of  the  bed  of  the  great 
oceans,  and  if  this  has  not  affected  the  forms  of  the 
coral  reefs. 

"  Yours  very  sincerely, 

"  CHARLES  DARWIN." 

Darwin's  descriptions  of  the  three  classes  of  coral 
reefs  are  too  well  known  to  require  especial  mention, 
and  have  been  presented  by  him  to  the  world  in  a 
work  entitled  "  Structure  and  Distribution  of  Coral 
Reefs,"  which  if  read  in  connection  with  Semper's 
"Animal  Life"  and  other  works  on  corals  of  to-day, 
will  show  the  remarkable  care  and  reasoning  which 


120  Charles  Darwin. 

the  young  naturalist  gave  to  a  subject  with  which  he 
was  then  totally  unfamiliar. 

His  investigations  at  Keeling  Island  were  not  con- 
fined to  corals  alone;  the  natives,  their  ways  and 
customs,  styles  of  dress,  religious  ideas,  the  atmos- 
pheric conditions,  the  currents  of  the  ocean,  the 
flora — in  fact,  every  thing  received  attention.  Dar- 
win was  in  no  sense  a  specialist ;  every  feature  of 
life,  every  page  in  the  book  of  nature,  was  studied 
with  care  and  interest,  and  the  amount  of  material 
collected  and  the  variety  of  facts  obtained  at  every 
place  were  astonishing. 

From  these  attractive  coral  islands  the  Beagle 
sailed  for  Mauritius,  where  Darwin  studied  every 
feature  of  life  from  the  habits  of  the  simplest  insect 
to  what  he  considered  the  crime  of  slavery.  Stop- 
ping at  St.  Helena  he  noted  the  extinction  of  several 
animals,  and  the  cause — the  denudation  of  vegeta- 
tion. In  his  note-book  he  writes  :  "  The  history  of  the 
changes  which  the  elevated  plains  of  Longwood  and 
Deadwood  have  undergone,  is  extremely  curious. 
Both  plains,  it  is  said,  in  former  times  were  covered 
with  wood,  and  were  therefore  called  the  Great 
Wood.  So  late  as  the  year  1716  there  were  many 
trees,  but  in  1724  the  old  trees  had  mostly  fallen; 
and  as  goats  and  hogs  had  been  suffered  to  range 
about,  all  the  young  trees  had  been  killed.  It 
appears  also  from  the  official  records  that  the  trees 
were  unexpectedly,  some  years  afterwards,  succeeded 
by  a  wire  grass,  which  spread  over  the  whole  surface. 
The  extent  of  surface,  probably  covered  by  wood  at 
a  former  period,  is  estimated  at  no  less  than  two 


Extinction  of  Animals  at  St.  Helena.    \  2  i 

thousand  acres ;  at  the  present  day  scarcely  a  single 
tree  can  be  found  there.  It  is  also  said  that  in  1709 
there  were  quantities  of  dead  trees  in  Sandy  Bay ; 
this  place  is  now  so  utterly  desert,  that  nothing  but 
so  well  tested  an  account  could  have  made  me  be- 
lieve that  they  could  ever  have  grown  there.  The 
fact  that  the  goats  and  hogs  destroyed  all  the  young 
trees  as  they  sprang  up,  and  that  in  the  course  of 
time  the  old  ones,  which  were  safe  from  their  at- 
tacks, perished  from  age,  seems  clearly  made  out. 
Goats  were  introduced  in  the  year  1502;  eighty-six 
years  afterwards,  it  is  known  that  they  were  exceed- 
ingly numerous  ;  more  than  a  century  afterwards,  in 
1731,  when  the  evil  was  complete  and  irretrievable, 
an  order  was  issued  that  all  stray  animals  should  be 
destroyed.  It  is  very  interesting  thus  to  find  that 
the  arrival  of  animals  at  St.  Helena  in  1501  did  not 
change  the  whole  aspect  of  the  island  until  a  period 
of  two  hundred  and  twenty  years  had  elapsed,  for 
the  goats  were  introduced  in  1502,  and  in  1724  it  is 
said  the  old  trees  had  mostly  fallen.  There  can  be 
but  little  doubt  that  this  great  change  in  the  vegeta- 
tion affected  not  only  the  land-shells,  causing  eight 
species  to  become  extinct,  but  likewise  a  multitude 
of  insects." 

From  St.  Helena  the  Beagle  made  Ascencion,  a 
volcanic  island,  where  was  found  an  interesting  geo- 
logical field,  and  from  here  bore  away  for  Bahia 
again,  to  complete  the  chronometrical  measurement 
of  the  world,  around  which  she  had  passed.  On  the 
way  up  the  coast  the  ship  stopped  at  Pernambuco 
until  about  the  middle  of  August.  In  his  note-book 


122  Charles  Darwin. 

Darwin  says  :  "  I  thank  God  I  shall  never  again  visit 
a  slave-country.  To  this  day,  if  I  hear  a  scream,  it 
recalls  with  painful  vividness  my  feelings,  when, 
passing  a  house  near  Pernambuco,  I  heard  the  most 
pitiable  moans,  and  could  not  but  suspect  some  poor 
slave  was  being  tortured."  The  Cape  Verd  Isl- 
ands were  next  visited,  from  there  sailing  to  the 
Azores,  and  on  the  2d  of  October  the  Beagle  cast 
anchor  at  Falmouth  after  an  absence  of  nearly  five 
years. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

DARWIN   THE    NATURALIST. 

Ambition  of  Darwin — Future  Work  Decided  upon — Scientific 
Friends — Papers  Read  before  Various  Societies — Experiments 
with  Earthworms — Marriage  of  Darwin — Methods  of  Work — 
Various  Publications. 

ARWIN  left  England  a 
young  man  without  ex- 
perience, but  with  a  lofty 
ambition  to  attain  by 
hard,  earnest  work  a  po- 
sition among  the  scien- 
tists of  the  day.  He 
returned  after  an  absence 
of  five  years,  possessed  of 
information  on  so  great  a 
variety  of  subjects,  that 
he  may  be  said  to  have 
been  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-eight  one  of  the 
best-equipped  naturalists  of  the  age.  Having  fol- 
lowed him  around  the  world  and  watched  the  ear- 
nestness with  which  he  carried  on  his  investigations 
and  his  indefatigable  industry,  we  may  accord  him  at 
once  a  position,  not  simply  as  a  successful  collector, 
123 


Charles  Darwin. 


but  as  a  thorough  and  conscientious  worker  in  almost 
every  branch  of  science. 

There  was  but  one  drawback  to  his  pleasure  and 
delight  at  returning  to  his  native  land  :  this  was  his 
failing  health.  Sea-sickness,  which  had  troubled  him 
from  the  first,  followed  him  through  the  entire  voy- 
age, and  this  and  the  hardships  through  which  he 
passed  undoubtedly  undermined  his  vigorous  con- 
stitution. His  physical  condition  determined  his 
future  career.  At  the  suggestion  of  Sir  Charles 
Lyell  he  gave  up  all  thought  of  professional  life, 
and  at  once  devoted  himself  to  the  work  of  his 
choice  —  the  study  of  natural  science,  and  the  elab- 
oration of  theories  and  ideas  conceived  during  his 
life  on  the  Beagle. 

Darwin's  success  had  preceded  him,  and  while  on 
the  return  voyage  he  received  a  letter  which  stated 
that  Sedgwick,  the  naturalist,  had  called  upon  his 
father  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  his  son  would 
take  a  position  among  the  leading  scientific  men  of 
the  country  —  an  opinion  based  upon  some  papers  or 
letters  read  in  1835  before  the  Philosophical  Society 
of  Cambridge.  Darwin  had  sent  some  of  his  fossils 
to  Professor  Henslow,  so  that  the  attention  of  palae- 
ontologists was  also  directed  to  his  work. 

After  a  few  days  spent  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
home-circle  —  days  of  delight,  after  so  protracted  an 
absence,  —  he  went  to  Greenwich  and  began  the 
arduous  labour  of  unpacking  and  arranging  the  vast 
collections  he  had  made.  That  he  was  to  some  ex- 
tent disappointed  in  the  interest  exhibited  in  the 
result  of  his  work  among  eminent  men  is  evident, 


Scientific  Friends.  125 

but  this  was  more  than  compensated  by  the  atten- 
tion bestowed  upon  him  by  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  Profes- 
sor Owen,  Dr.  Grant,  and  others.  He  soon  found 
that  the  major  part  of  the  work  would  devolve  upon 
himself,  and  that  it  was  a  labour  of  years.  Professor 
Owen  desired  to  dissect  some  of  his  alcoholic  speci- 
mens, and  Professor  Bell,  of  King's  College,  expressed 
an  interest  in  his  crustaceans  and  reptiles  ;  Professor 
Broderip  offered  to  undertake  the  classification  of 
his  collection  of  shells  ;  Gould  proposed  to  arrange 
the  birds,  and  Jenyns  the  fish, — all  of  which  delighted 
and  cheered  the  young  naturalist,  whose  enthusiasm 
was  so  great  that  it  was  imparted  to  those  about 
him. 

The  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  offered 
to  take  his  fossils,  describe  and  classify  them,  while 
during  a  three  months'  stay  at  Cambridge  Professor 
Miller  aided  him  in  examining  the  rocks  and  minerals. 

Once  having  his  collections  disposed  of  or  in  good 
hands,  Darwin  began  work  upon  his  "  Journal  of 
Travels,"  and  in  March,  1837,  moved  up  to  London, 
taking  apartments  in  Great  Marlborough  Street. 
This  period  was  one  of  constant  activity ;  he  was  now 
well  before  the  scientific  world,  and  apparently  upon 
the  threshold  of  a  distinguished  career.  His  sci- 
entific friends  aided  him  in  every  way,  especially  Sir 
Charles  Lyell,  whom  Darwin  found  to  be  extremely 
sympathetic,  and  to  take  a  great  interest  in  all  that 
he  did. 

He  was  now  proposed  as  a  fellow  of  the  Geo- 
graphical Society,  and  a  short  time  after  Sir  Charles 
Lyell  proposed  him  as  a  member  of  the  Royal 


I26  Charles  Darwin. 

Society,  and  so  the  prophecy  of  his  schoolmate, 
who  was  impressed  by  his  devotion  to  beetle  coL- 
lecting,  came  true  sooner  than  either  expected.  He 
read  several  papers  before  both  societies,  one  espe- 
cially on  the  R/tea  Americanus  attracting  attention. 
Another  paper,  read  before  the  Geological  Society, 
was  on  the  "Connection  of  Volcanic  Phenomena 
with  the  Elevation  of  Mountain  Chains,"  of  which 
Lyell  says :  "  He  opened  upon  De  la  Beche,  Phil- 
lips, and  others  " — the  veterans  of  the  science — "  his 
whole  battery  of  the  earthquakes  and  volcanoes  of 
the  Andes." 

Darwin  was  now  contemplating  the  production  of 
the  important  results  of  his  trip,  the  zoology  of  the 
voyage  of  the  Beagle,  and,  aided  by  other  naturalists, 
he  endeavoured  to  obtain  Government  cooperation 
in  the  illustration  and  making  of  plates.  To  the 
petition  he  secured  the  names  of  nearly  all  the 
prominent  naturalists,  including  that  of  the  Duke  of 
Somerset,  who  was  then  president  of  the  Linnaean 
Society  —  also  Lord  Derby,  —  and  a  month  later 
received  a  Government  grant  of  $5,000. 

Darwin's  geological  notes  had  attracted  wide-spread 
notice,  especially  the  fact  that  he  had  brought  back 
many  undescribed  species,  and  in  1837  he  was  ten- 
dered the  honourable  position  of  secretary  of  the 
Geological  Society,  which  he  accepted  with  some 
little  reluctance,  owing  to  the  demands  upon  his 
time  that  the  duties  would  entail. 

Darwin  occasionally  found  leisure  to  go  into  so- 
ciety, and  some  of  the  most  delightful  hours  were 
spent  at  the  house  of  his  friend  Professor  Henslow, 


Marriage  of  Darwin.  1 2  7 

where  he  always  met  congenial  acquaintances.  He 
also  varied  his  work  with  readings  of  the  poets, 
Wordsworth  and  Coleridge  delighting  him  particular- 
ly, while  Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost  "  was,  as  formerly, 
a  favourite. 

In  January,  1839,  Darwin  married  his  cousin, 
Emma  Wedgwood,  daughter  of  Josiah  Wedgwood, 
and  began  wedded  life  at  12  Upper  Gower  Street, 
London. 

His  principal  work  now  was  upon  coral  reefs, 
upon  which  he  devoted  twenty  months  of  hard,  un- 
remitting labour.  He  took  an  active  interest  in 
the  societies,  read  a  paper  before  the  Geological 
Society  on  the  "  Erratic  Boulders  of  South  Amer- 
ica," another  on  "  Earthquakes,"  and  still  another  on 
the  "  Formation  by  the  Agency  of  Earth-Worms 
of  Mould."  The  zoology  of  the  Beagle  was  in 
progress  now,  and  received  a  portion  of  his  time  as 
well. 

Ill-health  continued  to  follow  him,  and  he  tells  us 
that  scarcely  twenty-four  hours  went  over  his  head 
without  some  suffering.  Yet  this  did  not  deter 
him  from  work ;  on  the  contrary,  it  seemed  to  spur 
him  on  to  greater  exertion.  With  Sir  Charles  Lyell 
he  became  intimately  associated,  and  no  man  outside 
of  his  own  family  saw  so  much  of  him  or  knew  him 
so  well.  Darwin  entertained  the  highest  respect  for 
his  friend's  intelligence,  considering  him  the  leading 
geological  thinker  of  the  age.  Lyell  was  remarkable 
for  his  sound  judgment  and  caution,  exhausting 
every  subject  he  entered  into,  and  doubtless  Darwin 
imbibed  some  of  this  spirit. 


I28  Charles  Darwin. 

Among  the  men  whose  acquaintance  he  made  at 
this  time  was  Robert  Brown,  who  had  similar  char- 
acterists,  showing  the  greatest  care  for  detail  in  all 
his  work.  Darwin  met  Sir  John  Herschel  at  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  and  afterwards  often  in  London. 
Humboldt,  who  had  delighted  him  by  his  works, 
was  a  disappointment  personally,  and  he  refers  to  him 
simply  as  a  good  talker.  Sydney  Smith,  Macaulay, 
Motley,  and  Grote  were  other  distinguished  men 
whom  he  met  during  these  years.  Comparatively 
little  time  was  passed  from  home  ;  his  work  was  the 
magnet  that  prevented  him  from  straying  far  away, 
and  holidays  and  excursions  were  rare. 

As  a  working  naturalist  Darwin  was  a  model  of 
exactness,  patience,  and  perseverance  ;  he  rarely  lost 
a  moment,  and  while  not  a  rapid  worker,  he  com- 
pensated for  this  by  the  attention  he  gave  the 
subject.  His  study  was  adapted  for  work,  his 
appliances  being  essentially  simple.  A  dissecting 
board,  with  a  low,  revolving  stool,  was  a  principal 
feature,  while  a  table  bore  his  tools,  and  various 
drawers  containing  the  various  articles  he  was  likely 
to  use. 

Darwin's  library  was  a  curiosity,  as  he  considered 
books  simply  as  a  part  of  his  working  material,  and 
had  not  the  reverence  for  them  that  we  find  in  the 
bibliophile.  They  were  marked  with  memoranda, 
and  divided  if  too  large.  He  often  laughed  with  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  over  the  fact  that  he  had  made  him 
bring  out  an  edition  of  his  book  in  two  volumes  by 
informing  him  that  he  was  obliged  to  cut  the  book  in 
halves  for  use.  Pamphlets  he  cut  up,  often  throwing 


His  Method  of  Working.  129 


away  all  the  leaves  which  did  not  relate  to  his  work. 
When  books  were  rilled  with  notes  he  frequently 
added  an  index  at  the  end  with  the  number  of  the 
pages  marked,  and  thus  had  a  list  of  the  subjects  in 
which  he  was  interested,  so  at  short  notice  he  could 
command  all  the  material  bearing  on  a  certain  point 
in  his  possession.  Fortunately  Darwin  had  ample 
means,  which  enabled  him  to  devote  his  entire  time 
to  scientific  work  without  the  distraction  which 
would  naturally  have  come  from  an  attempt  to 
make  his  labour  pay  a  yearly  dividend  or  income. 
His  habits  were  simple  and  methodical,  and  within 
a  short  distance  of  the  hum  and  bustle  of  the  great 
city  of  London  he  carried  on  his  experiments  for 
forty  years,  happy  in  the  companionship  of  such 
men  as  Huxley,  Hooker,  Owen,  Lubbock,  and 
others,  producing  results  that  will  place  him  among 
the  leaders  of  science  as  long  as  time  endures. 

One  of  Darwin's  experiments  will  illustrate  his 
method  of  work,  and  the  consideration  and  labour 
which  he  gave  to  it.  While  on  a  visit  to  his  uncle 
the  latter  suggested  that  the  supposed  sinking  of 
stones  on  the  surface  was  really  due  to  the  castings 
of  earth-worms.  The  idea  made  so  strong  an  impres- 
sion upon  the  mind  of  the  naturalist,  that  he  read  the 
paper  previously  referred  to  on  the  subject  before 
the  Geological  Society.  When  the  farm  at  Down 
was  secured,  in  1842,  he  set  apart  some  of  the  ground 
for  his  experiment,  which  was  to  cover  a  part  of  the 
field  with  broken  chalk,  and  note,  among  other  things, 
the  disappearance  of  the  layer  through  the  agency  of 
the  worm  castings.  The  plat  was  covered  in  De- 
9 


Charles  Darwin. 


cember,  1842,  Darwin,  waiting  twenty-nine  years, 
or  until  November,  1871,  before  noting  the  results  ; 
a  trench  was  then  dug  across  the  field  exposing  a 
series  of  white  dots  or  nodules  ;  the  original  deposit 
of  chalk  being  found  on  both  sides  of  the  trench  at 
a  depth  of  seven  inches  from  the  surface.  Another 
portion  of  this  field  was  spread  with  cinders  in  1842, 
and  twenty-nine  years  later  the  stratum  was  also 
found  seven  inches  below  the  surface,  so  that  Dar- 
win assumed  that  the  mould,  exclusive  of  the  turf, 
had  been  thrown  up  at  an  average  rate  of  .22  inches 
per  year. 

These  and  other  experiments  resulted  in  the 
work,  "  Formation  of  Vegetable  Mould,"  published 
in  1882.  All  experiments  were  carried  on  in  the 
same  methodical  manner,  exactness,  conclusiveness, 
and  simplicity  being  the  characteristics  of  all  the 
work  of  the  great  naturalist. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

HOME   LIFE. 


Appearance     of     Darwin — Continued    Ill-Health—Daily    Habits — 

Change  in  Musical  and  Literary  Tastes — Affection 

for  His  Children. 


NE  of  the  most  speaking 
descriptions,  or  rather  im- 
pressions, of  Darwin,  as  he 
appeared  late  in  life  in  his 
own  home,  has  been  given 
by  Professor  Haeckel,  of 
Jena.  He  writes:  "In 
Darwin's  own  carriage, 
which  he  had  thought- 
fully sent  for  my  conve- 
nience to  the  railway  sta- 
tion, I  drove  one  sunny 
morning  in  October  through  the  graceful  hilly  land- 
scape of  Kent,  that  with  the  chequered  foliage  of  its 
woods,  with  its  stretches  of  purple  heath,  yellow 
broom,  and  evergreen  oaks,  was  arrayed  in  its  fairest 
autumnal  dress.  As  the  carriage  drew  up  in  front  of 
Darwin's  pleasant  country-house,  clad  in  a  vesture  of 


Charles  Darwin. 


ivy  and  embowered  in  elms,  there  stepped  out  to  meet 
me  from  the  shady  porch,  overgrown  with  creeping 
plants,  the  great  naturalist  himself,  a  tall  and  ven- 
erable figure,  with  the  shoulders  of  an  Atlas  support- 
ing a  world  of  thoughts,  his  Jupiter-like  forehead 
highly  and  broadly  arched,  as  in  the  case  of  Goethe, 
and  deeply  furrowed  by  the  mental  plough  of  labour  ; 
his  kindly  mild  eyes  looking  forth  under  the  shadow 
of  prominent  brows  ;  his  amiable  mouth  surrounded 
by  a  copious  silver-white  beard.  The  cordial,  pre- 
possessing expression  of  the  whole  face,  the  gentle 
mild  voice,  the  slow,  deliberate  utterance,  the  natural 
and  naive  train  of  ideas  which  marked  his  conversa- 
tion, captivated  my  whole  heart  in  the  first  hour  of 
our  meeting,  just  as  his  great  work  had  formerly,  on 
my  first  reading  it,  taken  my  whole  understanding 
by  storm.  I  fancied  a  lofty  world  sage  out  of  Hellenic 
antiquity  —  a  Socrates  or  Aristotle  stood  before  me." 

While  Darwin  was  an  invalid  in  every  sense,  and  a 
great  sufferer,  he  did  not  receive  credit  for  it.  His 
herculean  form  and  a  ruddy  countenance  conveyed 
the  impression  of  perfect  health.  In  a  letter  to  Dr. 
Hooker  he  says  :  "  Every  one  tells  me  I  look  quite 
blooming  and  beautiful  ;  and  most  think  I  am  sham- 
ming, but  you  have  never  been  one  of  those." 

Generally  Darwin  wore  a  large  black  cloak  and 
slouch  hat,  when  indoors  throwing  a  shawl  around 
his  shoulders  and  drawing  over  his  shoes  fur-lined 
slippers.  His  habits  of  work  and  a  desire  to  econo- 
mise time  made  him  an  early  riser,  and  after  a  short 
walk  he  breakfasted  about  a  quarter  of  eight,  then 
retiring  to  his  study,  considering  the  hours  previous 


Daily  Habits.  133 


to  half-past  nine  the  most  productive  of  the  day. 
When  the  mail  arrived,  usually  about  ten  o'clock, 
the  letters  were  read  to  him,  sometimes  as  he  lay 
stretched  upon  the  sofa,  and  often  an  unfinished 
novel  was  taken  up  and  perused — a  rest  which  he 
particularly  enjoyed.  After  this  diversion  he  would 
retire  to  his  study  again,  refreshed  and  ready  for 
work.  At  mid-day  he  usually  went  out  for  a  stroll, 
either  to  see  some  friend  in  connection  with  his 
work  or  to  the  green-house  where  some  of  his  ex- 
periments were  being  conducted.  A  favourite  spot 
was  the  "  Sand-walk," — a  path  about  a  group  of 
trees  of  his  own  planting.  It  was  his  custom  to 
walk  around  this  and  kick  aside  a  piece  of  flint  from 
a  heap  at  every  turn,  thus  recording  the  distance 
covered.  In  his  walks  he  almost  always  had  an  object. 
On  one  occasion  he  was  seen  standing  like  a  statue 
for  some  time,  fixed  and  immovable.  He  had 
stopped  to  watch  a  family  of  squirrels,  the  young  of 
which  urged  by  intense  curiosity  left  the  tree,  and  not- 
withstanding the  chirping  protests  of  their  mother, 
ran  up  his  legs  and  back.  Early  in  the  afternoon  he 
generally  attended  to  his  correspondence,  then  rested 
upon  the  sofa  smoking  a  cigarette,  a  habit  which  he 
contracted  in  South  America  among  the  Gauchos. 
He  was  also  addicted  to  snuff-taking,  which  he  dep- 
recated and  in  a  mild  way  endeavoured  to  keep  in 
check.  He  once  attempted  to  break  up  the  habit, 
and  resolved  not  to  indulge  in  it  at  home,  which  one 
of  his  friends,  a  clergyman,  called  "  a  most  satisfac- 
tory arrangement,"  as  the  latter  kept  a  box  in  his 
study  and  Darwin  often  strolled  in  that  direction. 


I34  Charles  Darwin. 


After  four  o'clock  he  would  take  another  walk, 
then  work  from  half-past  four  till  half-past  five.  In 
the  evening  he  played  backgammon  with  his  wife, 
then  usually  reading  some  scientific  work  until  the 
hour  for  retiring.  He  enjoyed  good  music  though 
his  ear  was  not  correct,  and  in  this  respect  and  in  his 
literary  tastes  he  considered  himself  to  be  deficient, 
judging  from  the  popular  standard.  Darwin  tells  us 
that  he  underwent  a  singular  change  in  this  connec- 
tion as  he  advanced  in  years.  We  have  seen  that  in 
his  youth  he  was  enthusiastically  fond  of  the  poets, 
Milton,  Shakespeare,  Shelley,  Gray,  and  others,  but 
soon  after  attaining  the  age  of  thirty,  his  desire  for 
literature  of  this  kind  began  to  cease,  until  finally  he 
could  not  endure  poetry,  while  the  historical  plays  of 
Shakespeare  were  found  "  intolerably  dull."  His 
taste  for  a  certain  class  of  music  and  art  also  failed, 
while  his  pleasure  in  novels,  where  the  imagination 
was  called  into  play,  increased.  Darwin  considered 
it  a  loss  of  the  higher  aesthetic  tastes,  and  an  atrophy 
of  that  portion  of  the  brain  upon  which  they  de- 
pended, and  the  fact  that  he  still  enjoyed  histories, 
biographies,  travels,  and  various  abstruse  works  puz- 
zled him  not  a  little.  In  all  probability,  the  five 
years  of  active  association  in  so  varied  a  field  had 
blunted  his  sensibilities  for  the  artificial  unless  it  was 
of  a  highly  exciting  or  imaginative  character. 

One  might  expect  to  find  in  a  man  whose  daily 
life  was  a  constant  fight  against  suffering,  and  who 
worked  with  a  regularity  that  was  almost  unparal- 
leled, a  break  or  flaw  at  times  in  the  evenness  of  dis- 
position, but  Darwin's  life  was  wonderful  in  its 


Affection  for  his  Children.  135 


patience  and  example  of  loving-kindness  to  all,  in  its 
exhibition  of  gentleness.  His  married  life  was  perfect 
in  its  tender  realisation  of  all  that  can  come  from  the 
mingling  of  well-adapted  natures.  To  his  children 
Darwin  was  indulgent  and  kind,  tender  and  sympa- 
thetic ;  he  early  gained  their  full  love  and  confidence, 
and  always  retained  it.  That  he  made  them  the 
objects  of  his  scientific  investigations  is  shown  by 
his  great  work,  "The  Expression  of  the  Emotions"; 
yet  that  he  had  all  the  love  and  affection  of  the  un- 
scientific parent  is  seen  in  the  following  extract 
from  a  letter  written  to  a  friend  :  "  He  (i.e.,  the  baby) 
is  so  charming  that  I  cannot  pretend  to  any  mod- 
esty. I  defy  anybody  to  flatter  us  on  our  baby, 
for  I  defy  anyone  to  say  anything  in  its  praise  of 
which  we  are  not  fully  conscious.  ...  I  had  not 
the  smallest  conception  there  was  so  much  in  a 
five-months  baby.  You  will  perceive  by  this  that 
I  have  a  fine  degree  of  paternal  fervour."  His  son 
Francis  states  that  he  does  not  remember  ever  hear- 
ing his  father  speak  an  angry  word,  yet  the  children 
never  thought  of  disobeying  him.  "  I  well  remem- 
ber," says  his  son,  "  one  occasion  when  my  father 
reproved  me  for  a  piece  of  carelessness ;  and  I  can 
still  recall  the  feeling  of  depression  which  came  over 
me,  and  the  care  which  he  took  to  disperse  it  by 
speaking  to  me  soon  afterwards  with  especial  kind- 
ness. He  kept  up  his  delightful,  affectionate  man- 
ner towards  us  all  his  life.  I  sometimes  wonder 
that  he  could  do  so,  with  such  an  undemonstrative 
race  as  we  are ;  but  I  hope  he  knew  how  much  we 
delighted  in  his  loving  words  and  manner.  How 


136  Charles  Darwin. 

often,  when  a  man,  I  have  wished  when  my  father 
was  behind  my  chair,  that  he  would  pass  his  hand 
over  my  hair,  as  he  used  to  do  when  I  was  a  boy. 
He  allowed  his  grown-up  children  to  laugh  with  and 
at  him,  and  was,  generally  speaking,  on  terms  of 
perfect  equality  with  us." 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE   WORK   OF  A   LIFE. 

Early  Papers — Publications  by  Scientific  Societies — "  The  Formation 
of  Mould"— "The  Cirripedia "— The  Wallace  Incident— Col- 
lecting Material  for  the  "Origin  of  Species" — Success  of  the 
Work — Time  Spent  in  Authorship — Religion — Final  Work  and 
Death. 


AR  WIN'S  life-work  can 
only  be  realised  and  ap- 
preciated by  an  examina- 
tion of  the  papers,  mon- 
ographs, and  books  which 
he  produced  between  the 
years  1835  and  1882,  and 
with  a  full  understanding 
of  the  years  of  labour  en- 
tailed in  the  material  and 
fact-storing  process.  The 
voyage  of  the  Beagle  was 
the  preparatory  time,  the  season  during  which  he 
stored  his  mind  with  truths  bearing  upon  every  pos- 
sible branch  of  natural  science.  He  was  not  simply  a 
biologist ;  his  attention  was  not  given  to  life  alone, 
but  to  nature  in  its  broadest  sense,  and  chat  his  re- 
'37 


,38  Charles  Darwin. 

ceptive  mind  was  well  equipped  to  retain  the  enor- 
mous fund  of  information  he  acquired,  is  shown  by 
the  elaborate  works  he  has  handed  down  to  pos- 
terity. We  have  seen  him  as  a  youth  reading  his 
paper  on  the  Flustra  to  the  Solons  of  the  Plinian 
Society  ;  a  few  years  later,  when  still  a  young  man, 
we  find  him  a  leading  and  central  figure  among  all 
the  naturalists  of  Europe,  a  leader  of  science  in  all 
the  term  implies. 

In  1837  Henslow  caused  to  be  published  some 
extracts  from  his  private  letters  which  he  considered 
of  public  scientific  value,  and  during  the  same  year 
several  important  papers  appeared  in  the  "  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Royal  Zoological  Society  of  London." 
In  1838  papers  and  monographs  followed  each  other 
rapidly :  "  The  Formation  of  Mould,"  "  Observa- 
tions on  the  Recent  Elevation  of  the  Coast  of  Chili," 
"A  Sketch  of  the  Extinct  Mammalia  of  the  Pampas," 
"  Elevation  and  Subsidence  in  the  Pacific,"  and 
"  Volcanic  Phenomena,"  produced  in  this  year,  all 
attracted  attention  in  the  scientific  world.  Up  to 
the  time  of  his  death  Darwin  published  twenty-three 
works,  each  of  which  is  a  record  of  indefatigable  re- 
search, and  an  exhaustive  treatise  on  the  subject  in 
hand.  Besides  these  he  produced  eighty-one  or 
eighty-two  papers,  which  were  read  and  published 
by  the  various  scientific  societies  of  Europe. 

The  "  log-book,"  which  we  have  followed  in  the 
trip  around  the  world,  was  carefully  written  during 
the  voyage,  and  aftenvards  revised  and  published  in 
1839  as  a  Paft  of  Captain  Fitz-Roy's  report.  In 
1845  it  was  published  separately,  proving  an  imme- 


"  The  Cirripedia"  139 

diate  success  ;  and  Darwin  tells  us  that  "  the  success 
of  this,  my  first  literary  child,  always  tickles  my 
vanity  more  than  that  of  any  of  my  other  books." 

The  book  had  a  large  sale  ;  the  direct  and  simple 
method  of  treatment,  so  unlike  the  abstruse  and  tech- 
nical scientific  works  of  the  day,  finding  ready 
acceptance  among  the  great  masses  of  the  people. 
The  first  edition  was  soon  exhausted  ;  foreign  pub- 
lishers translated  it  into  French,  German,  and  other 
languages,  and  even  to-day  it  commands  a  large  and 
constant  sale.  A  second  edition  was  brought  out, 
to  be  followed  by  others,  and  it  is  estimated  that 
fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  copies  of  the  book  have 
been  sold.  This  work  may  be  said  to  have  occupied 
five  years  in  its  production. 

In  1846  Darwin  published  his  "  Geological  Ob- 
servations on  South  America  "  ;  this  and  two  others, 
including  the  "  Coral  Reefs,"  representing  four  and 
a  half  years  of  continued  and  steady  labour.  Darwin 
modestly  disclaims  any  merit  for  them,  but  they 
were  essentially  epoch-making,  and  in  many  ways 
revolutionised  existing  thought  and  theory.  While 
in  Chili  he  discovered  a  new  and  singular  barnacle 
burrowing  in  a  shell.  To  understand  its  affinities 
necessitated  a  study  of  the  entire  Cirripedes,  which 
resulted  in  the  grand  work  "  Cirripedia,"  which  was 
published  in  1846.  The  study  and  investigations, 
which  resulted  in  this  monograph,  required  eight 
years  of  constant  attention,  about  two  of  which  he 
considered  lost  on  account  of  illness,  though  it  is 
known  that  he  laboured  even  when  ill.  The  book 
was,  when  published,  a  complete  history  of  these 


I4o  Charles  Darwin. 

forms,  both  recent  and  fossil,  comprising  two  thick 
volumes,  and  Darwin  humorously  remarks  that  he 
does  not  doubt  that  Sir  Edward  Lytton  Bulwer  had 
him  in  mind  when  he  introduced  a  Professor  Long, 
a  character  in  one  of  his  novels,  as  a  person  who  had 
written  two  huge  volumes  on  limpets. 

This  work  contained,  not  only  the  life-histories  of 
well-known  forms,  but  chronicled  many  new  discov- 
eries. Thus  he  explained  the  cementing  appara- 
tus, and  made  the  remarkable  discovery  of  minute 
complementary  males. 

In  all  his  work,  and  in  every  effort  of  his  life, 
Darwin  underestimated  his  services  to  science.  His 
modesty  was  proverbial,  and  even  on  subjects  of 
which  he  was  the  acknowledged  master,  he  would, 
with  a  rare  and  delightful  sense  of  justice,  express 
the  opinion  that  some  one  else  might  have  produced 
greater  results  with  the  matter  at  command.  This 
was  so  with  his  master-piece,  as  he  says,  in  referring 
to  the  time  he  had  spent  upon  it :  "I  doubt  whether 
the  work  was  worth  the  consumption  of  so  much 
time."  The  great  work  of  our  hero's  life  was  his 
"  Origin  of  Species,"  and  the  voyage  of  the  Beagle 
was  the  time  during  which  he  was  insensibly  storing 
up  facts  which  were  destined,  under  his  skilful  treat- 
ment, to  make  him  a  leader  in  the  scientific  world. 
That  the  theory  of  the  great  conception  entered  his 
thoughts  and  left  an  indifferent  impression  long 
before  he  realised  its  true  import,  there  can  be  but 
little  doubt.  The  incidents  which  focussed  his  mind 
on  the  great  idea  were  the  discovery  of  the  huge 
fossil  animals  on  the  South  American  pampas.  He 


Development  of  his   Great   Theory.      141 

was  also  impressed  with  the  manner  "  in  which 
closely  allied  animals  replaced  each  other  in  proceed- 
ing southwards  over  the  continent  ;  and  thirdly,  by 
the  South  American  character  of  most  of  the  produc- 
tions of  the  Galapagos  archipelago,  and  more  espe- 
cially by  the  manner  in  which  they  differ  slightly  on 
each  island  of  the  group ;  none  of  the  islands  appear- 
ing to  be  very  ancient  in  a  geological  sense." 

The  conclusions  which  he  deduced  from  these 
facts  were  that  species  became  modified  ;  in  other 
words,  their  environment  or  conditions  of  life  pro- 
duced changes  and  modifications.  This  idea  created 
a  profound  and  lasting  impression  ;  as  he  says,  the 
subject  haunted  him,  and  he  naturally  began  to  look 
for  other  facts  bearing  upon  the  same  line  of  thought. 
Upon  his  return  to  England  he  commenced  a  sys- 
tematic collection  of  data  referring  to  this  subject. 
He  read  with  great  care  monographs,  papers,  and 
reports.  He  interviewed  people  of  all  grades  and 
professions,  sent  out  printed  slips  with  questions  and 
answers,  and  rapidly  accumulated  a  mass  of  facts  that 
would  have  appalled  one  less  enthusiastic.  The  idea 
was  not  yet  fully  developed  ;  he  was  still  groping  in 
the  dark  when  "  Malthus  on  Population  "  fell  in  his 
way,  and  was  read  simply  as  a  recreation.  This  was 
in  1838,  fifteen  months  after  he  began  his  collection 
of  facts,  and  from  this  source  he  obtained  the  idea 
that  in  the  struggle  for  existence  between  various 
forms,  "  favourable  variations  tend  to  be  preserved, 
and  unfavourable  ones  to  be  destroyed.  The  result 
of  this  would  be  the  formation  of  a  new  species." 

The  idea  must  have  come  to  him  like  a  sudden 


142  Charles  Darwin. 

flash  of  light  that  was,  indeed,  to  illumine  the  scien- 
tific world.  Yet  so  cautious  was  he,  so  fearful  of 
being  prejudiced,  that  it  was  not  until  1842  that  he 
gave  himself  the  pleasure  of  even  writing  out  his 
theory  in  tangible  shape.  This  copy  embraced,  he 
tells  us,  about  thirty-five  pages,  which  was  elaborated 
in  1844  to  two  hundred  and  thirty  pages.  Year 
after  year  facts  were  accumulated  and  added,  and 
discussions  indulged  in  with  his  friends,  until,  in 
1856,  eighteen  years  later,  Sir  Charles  Lyell  advised 
him  to  elaborate  his  previous  work  and  prepare  it 
for  publication.  This  suggestion  was  acted  upon, 
and  the  work  was  about  half  completed  when  a 
singular  incident  occurred  which,  more  than  anything 
else,  shows  the  complete  and  thorough  unselfishness 
of  Darwin's  nature.  He  was  at  work  one  day  when 
a  letter  was  received  from  Alfred  Russel  Wallace,  a 
young  English  naturalist,  who  was  then  travelling  in 
the  Malay  country.  To  his  amazement,  it  contained 
an  article  embodying  the  exact  theory  upon  which 
he  had  been  labouring  for  so  many  years  in  com- 
parative secret.  The  paper  was  accompanied  by  a 
letter  in  which  the  young  naturalist  requested  that 
Darwin,  if  he  thought  the  paper  deserving,  should 
send  it  to  Sir  Charles  Lyell  for  consideration  at  the 
Linnaean  Society.  Never  had  a  man  greater  temp- 
tation, and  the  result  shows  the  full  measure  of 
Darwin's  greatness  and  the  breadth  and  scope  of  his 
sense  of  justice.  He  sent  the  article  to  Sir  Charles 
Lyell,  as  Wallace  had  suggested,  but  Lyell  and  Sir 
Joseph  Hooker  immediately  saw  the  injustice  to 
Darwin  which  would  ensue,  and  protested  against 


His  Great  Work  Published,  143 

the  publication  of  the  Wallace  article  without  a 
statement  from  Darwin,  who,  they  well  knew,  had 
been  working  on  the  same  subject  for  years.  Darwin 
was  at  first  not  willing  to  take  any  action  in  the 
matter  to  protect  himself,  fearing  that  he  would  do 
an  injustice  to  Wallace  ;  but  the  difficulty  was 
finally  arranged  through  the  mediation  of  friends,  so 
that  the  rights  of  both  naturalists,  who  had  almost 
simultaneously  conceived  the  same  idea,  were  pro- 
tected, and  not  for  a  moment  were  the  relations 
between  them  strained.  Both  were  preeminently 
great,  and  possessed  of  natures  above  the  suspicion 
of  jealousy.  The  result  was  that  the  paper  of  Wal- 
lace, accompanied  by  a  letter  from  Professor  Asa 
Gray,  and  an  abstract  of  Darwin's  work,  was  pub- 
lished in  the  transactions  of  the  Linnaean  Society, 
July,  1858,  being,  in  reality,  the  first  gun  in  what 
became  one  of  the  greatest  discursive  scientific  war- 
fares of  the  age. 

This  publication  did  not  arouse  any  especial  com- 
ment, as  one  might  have  supposed  what  was  really 
the  birth  of  modern  evolutionism  would  have  done, 
yet  the  interest  came  later  on.  Sir  Charles  Lyell 
and  Sir  Joseph  Hooker  now  urged  Darwin  to  pro- 
duce his  work,  and,  after  thirteen  months  and  ten 
days  of  hard  labour,  he  brought  out  the  now  famous 
work,  "  The  Origin  of  Species,"  .which  immortalised 
him.  Darwin  considered  this  the  chief  object  of  his 
life,  and  it  was  a  constant  delight  that  the  book 
always  had  a  good  sale,  though  by  no  means  a  work 
for  popular  reading. 

The  publishers,  supposing  that  so  "  stiff  "  a  book 


144  Charles  Darwin. 

would  have  a  limited  sale,  published  an  edition  of 
twelve  hundred  and  fifty,  but  no  popular  novel  went 
off  faster.  The  entire  edition  was  taken  up  the  first 
day,  and,  soon  after,  an  edition  of  three  thousand 
was  exhausted.  Up  to  date,  about  twenty-five 
thousand  copies  have  been  sold  in  almost  every 
land,  the  work  being  translated  into  many  tongues. 

We  have  noticed  in  this  review  of  Darwin's  life 
that  there  were,  at  intervals,  incidents  which  seemed 
to  bring  him  continually  into  a  brighter  light,  and 
the  publication  of  this  book  was  one.  It  not  merely 
marked  an  epoch  in  his  life,  but,  in  the  language  of 
his  friend,  Professor  Huxley,  "the  boldness  and 
originality  of  his  speculations,  or  the  profound  and 
universal  interest  which  the  book  awakened,  must 
be  looked  upon  as  marking  an  era  in  the  progress  of 
science." 

The  direct  result  of  the  publication  of  this  work 
was  to  bring  the  author  prominently  before  the  world 
at  large.  Darwinism  was  born,  and  Darwin's  theory 
was  upon  every  tongue.  He  was  attacked  upon  all 
sides,  the  principal  abuse  coming  from  churchmen, 
who  claimed  that  the  theory  was  an  encouragement 
to  infidelity  and  atheism.  It  is  not  my  intention  to 
give  the  details  of  Darwin's  work  and  ideas  here  ;  it 
is  sufficient  to  say  that  evolution — which  means  the 
coming  out,  the  unfolding  of  one  species  from  a 
preceding — did  not  originate  with  Darwin,  but  the 
latter's  theory  was  his  explanation  of  the  methods 
by  which  evolution  was  accomplished.  He  saw  that 
man,  by  care  in  breeding  animals,  by  carefully  select- 
ing individuals,  could  produce  strange  and  singular 


Botanical  Researches.  1 45 

results.  He  substituted  nature  for  man  in  the  case 
of  wild  animals,  and  saw,  in  the  conditions  of  life,  the 
climate,  the  lack  or  even  supply  of  food,  etc.,  elements 
which  would  produce  varieties,  then  species,  in  long 
eras  of  time.  So  bold  a  theory  could  but  shake  the 
scientific  world  to  its  very  centre,  and  a  Darwinian 
war  waged  for  years.  In  the  end  the  quiet,  unas- 
suming naturalist  won  the  battle,  one  opponent  after 
another  laying  down  his  arms,  until,  to-day,  scientists, 
almost  to  a  man,  accept  his  grand  idea  as  the 
embodiment  of  truth. 

About  the  year  1839,  when  collecting  facts  relating 
to  the  preceding  work,  Darwin  was  attracted  to  the 
cross-fertilisation  of  flowers  by  insects,  and  for  many 
succeeding  summers  he  made  careful  observations 
and  studies,  which,  in  1862,  resulted  in  a  work 
entitled  "  The  Fertilisation  of  Orchids,"  the  actual 
labour  on  which,  he  tells  us,  cost  him  ten  months  of 
close  application.  This  is  one  of  his  most  delightful 
books,  leading  the  reader  into  what  has  aptly  been 
termed  the  fairy-land  of  science,  and  telling  a 
wondrous  story  of  the  devices  of  nature  to  secure 
perpetuation. 

In  1864  Darwin  sent  an  elaborate  paper  on 
"  Climbing  Plants  "  to  the  Linnaean  Society,  which 
represented  the  labour  of  four  months,  during  which 
time  he  was  often  seriously  ill.  This  was  published 
in  book  form  in  1875,  and  received  a  hearty  recogni- 
tion from  the  scientific  world.  It  contained  many 
original  observations,  and  created  active  interest  in 
botanical  studies.  Another  work  on  the  "  Varia- 
tion of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication  " 


I46  Charles  Darwin. 

was  begun  in  1860,  and  published  eight  years  later. 
The  facts  collected  for  this  covered  many  years,  v/hile 
the  actual  time  in  the  preparation  of  the  volume 
represented  over  four  years.  A  second  edition,  re- 
vised and  corrected,  followed  in  1875.  While  col- 
lecting material  for  his  great  work  on  the  "  Origin  of 
Species,"  1837,  Darwin  became  convinced  that  man 
in  his  present  form  was  the  outcome  of  the  evolu- 
tionary law,  and  as  a  result  of  his  speculations  on 
the  question  we  have  the  "  Descent  of  Man,"  pub- 
lished in  1871,  to  which  he  gave  three  years  of  his  life 
— years  of  intense  application,  broken  only  by  the 
inroads  of  ill-health.  This  production  added  fuel  to 
the  flame  of  criticism,  and  was  the  sensation  of  the 
day,  resulting  in  an  almost  endless  controversy, 
which  extended  from  the  pulpit  to  the  workshop. 

In  all  these  works  we  see  that  Darwin  had  con- 
ceived the  ideas  years  before,  had  been  collecting 
data  and  working  them  out  through  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  and  his  next  publication,  the  "  Expressions 
of  the  Emotions  of  Animals,"  was  the  result  of  simi- 
lar methods. 

In  1839  his  first  child  was  born,  and  its  expres- 
sions and  emotions  excited  not  only  the  intense 
paternal  love  that  was  dominant  in  his  nature,  but  a 
desire  to  observe  carefully  the  gradual  development 
of  the  human  intellect.  Almost  daily  notes  were 
made  which  will  be  found  in  the  work  given  to  the 
world  in  1872.  This,  too,  was  an  immediate  success, 
5,227  copies  being  sold  on  the  day  of  publication,  and 
the  book,  like  all  the  others,  is  still  in  active  demand. 

One  of  the  most  charming  of  Darwin's  works,  to 
either  layman  or  scientist,  is  his  "  Insectivorous 


Religious  Reticence.  147 

Plants."  Early  in  1860,  while  on  one  of  his  rare 
vacation  trips  at  Hartfield,  he  observed  the  insects 
which  had  been  caught  by  the  leaves  of  the  little 
Drosera.  The  subject  so  interested  and  attracted 
him  that  he  carried  some  of  the  plants  home,  hoping 
to  learn  more  of  them.  The  idea  which  he  con- 
ceived was  that  possibly  the  insects  were  caught  for 
some  special  purpose.  For  a  period  covering  six- 
teen years  he  studied  these  and  other  plants,  making 
a  series  of  experiments  wonderful  in  their  detail. 
The  plants  were  fed  with  food  of  various  kinds  and 
facts  elicited  of  a  most  surprising  nature,  not  the 
least  of  which  was  that  a  plant  could  secrete,  when 
properly  excited,  a  fluid  containing  an  acid  and  fer- 
ment closely  analogous  to  the  digestive  fluid  of  an 
animal. 

In  1 876  "The  Effect  of  Cross-  and  Self-Fertilisa- 
tion in  the  Vegetable  Kingdom  "  was  published,  and 
in  1880  "The  Different  Forms  of  Flowers  on  Plants 
of  the  Same  Species."  This  was  followed  by  a  life 
of  Erasmus  Darwin,  a  translation  from  the  German 
of  Krause,  in  1879,  "The  Power  of  Movement  in 
Plants,"  and  finally,  in  1881,  he  published  the  work 
previously  referred  to,  "  The  Formation  of  Vegeta- 
ble Mould  through  the  Action  of  Worms,"  that  was 
the  outcome  of  the  paper  read  forty  years  previous 
before  the  Linnaean  Society,  comprising,  as  we  have 
seen,  experiments  which  entailed  a  wait  of  twenty 
years  before  the  exact  result  desired  could  be  deter- 
mined. This  was  the  last  great  work  of  the  naturalist. 

In  Darwin's  works  there  is  rarely  any  reference  to 
religion  ;  this  was  due  to  several  reasons,  one  being 
that  he  desired  not  to  hurt  the  feelings  of  any  readei 


14$  Charles  Darwin. 

by  giving  publicity  to  views  which  might  differ  from 
theirs,  while  another  was  that  he  held  a  man's  reli- 
gious belief  should  not  be  paraded  in  public  print. 
He  has  been  called  an  infidel  and  atheist  so  often 
that  there  is  a  wide-spread  belief  to  this  effect,  but 
nothing  could  be  further  from  the  truth.  Darwin 
was  a  firm  believer  in  a  First  Cause.  He  was  in 
theory  an  agnostic,  in  practice  an  orthodox  Christian 
of  the  broadest  type.  Honourable  in  the  smallest 
things  in  life,  thoughtful  of  others,  doing  as  he  would 
be  done  by,  sensitive  for  others  to  an  extreme  that 
was  often  injustice  to  himself,  kind,  lovable,  ready  to 
help  the  young,  charitable,  and  possessed  of  extreme 
modesty, — such  was  the  greatest  naturalist  of  the 
age,  a  hero  of  heroes,  a  model  for  all  men  ;  and 
when  we  remember  that  for  forty  years  of  this  life 
there  was  not  one  day  without  its  physical  suffering, 
we  can  understand  the  true  greatness  of  his  nature. 

In  February  of  the  year  1882  Darwin  was  seized 
with  severe  heart  trouble,  which  continued,  with 
some  intermission,  until  the  igth  of  April  of  this 
year,  when  he  passed  away. 

It  was  the  desire  of  the  family  to  have  him  rest  at 
Down,  but  in  response  to  a  general  request  from 
nearly  all  the  eminent  men  of  the  day  they  con- 
sented to  his  interment  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
where  he  lies  within  a  few  feet  of  the  tomb  of  Sir 
Isaac  Newton.  The  inscription  upon  the  stone  is  as 
follows : 

CHARLES  ROBERT  DARWIN, 

Born  12  February,  1809, 

Died  19  April,  1882. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

HONOURS    OF   A    LIFETIME. 

Membership  in  Societies — The  Institute  of  France — Prizes 
— Degrees — Portraits — Gifts,  etc. 


-Medals 


':'  •'..,    ,    X-.,.. 
'> 


T  may  be  said  that  Darwin 
was  a  member  of  nearly 
every  scientific  society  of 
any  prominence.  In  1831 
he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  London  Zoological 
Society,  first  being  a  cor- 
responding member,  later 
becoming  a  fellow  for  dis- 
tinguished services  in  the 
cause  of  science.  In  1833 
he  was  elected  to  the 
Entomological  Society,  being  an  original  member, 
and  in  1836  he  became  a  member  and  secretary  of 
the  Geological  Society.  In  1838  he  joined  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society,  the  following  year  the  Royal 
Society,  the  Linnaean  in  1851,  and  the  Ethnological 
in  1861.  Every  year  new  honours  poured  in  upon 
him  in  elections  to  societies  or  in  the  form  of  medals 
149 


Charles  Darwin. 


or  degrees,  so  that  at  the  end  of  his  ripe  and  well- 
rounded  life  he  had  received  seven  or  eight  degrees, 
three  from  Cambridge,  and  one  each  from  Breslau, 
Bonn,  and  Leyden.  He  was  a  member  of  nine 
London  scientific  societies,  nine  in  the  Provinces, 
thirteen  in  America,  four  in  Austria-Hungary,  three 
in  Belgium,  four  in  France,  ten  in  Germany,  three  in 
Holland,  six  in  Italy,  and  eight  in  Portugal,  Spain, 
Sweden,  and  Switzerland.  While  he  cared  little  for 
honours  of  this  kind,  they  must  have  impressed  him 
with  the  fact  that  his  great  work  was  appreciated  by 
the  world  at  large.  In  1877  he  received  the  much- 
treasured  LL.D.  of  Cambridge.  This  called  to  mind 
the  fact  that  the  university  had  no  memorial  of 
Darwin,  and  forthwith  £400  were  subscribed  and 
Darwin  asked  to  sit  for  his  portrait,  which  he  did 
in  1879,  Mr.  W.  Richmond  making  an  excellent 
likeness,  which  now  hangs  in  the  library  of  the 
Philosophical  Society  at  Cambridge.  The  picture 
represents  him  in  his  doctor's  gown,  with  head  facing 
the  observer. 

This  was  followed  by  a  request  from  the  Linnaean 
Society  for  a  sitting,  which  was  given  in  1881,  Mr. 
John  Collier  being  the  artist.  This  shows  him  stand- 
ing, in  the  clothes  he  habitually  wore.  Neither  of 
these  pictures  is  perfectly  satisfactory  to  his  son 
Francis  Darwin. 

In  1878  Darwin  was  elected  corresponding  member 
of  the  French  Institute.  A  previous  attempt  had 
been  made  to  elect  him,  in  1872,  to  the  Zoological 
Section,  but  he  received  but  fifteen  votes  out  of 
forty-eight,—  a  fact  that  Sir  Charles  Lyell  refers  to 


A  Birthday  Gift.  1 5 1 

as  "  a  great  scandal."  The  reason  for  it  will  appear 
amusing  to-day,  and  is  as  follows,  if  we  may  believe 
an  eminent  member  of  the  Academy : 

"  What  has  closed  the  doors  of  the  Academy  to 
Mr.  Darwin  is  that  the  science  of  those  of  his  books 
which  have  made  his  chief  title  to  fame,  the  '  Origin 
of  Species,'  and  still  more  the  '  Descent  of  Man,'  is 
not  science,  but  a  mass  of  assertions  and  absolutely 
gratuitous  hypotheses,  often  evidently  fallacious. 
This  kind  of  publication  and  these  theories  are  a 
bad  example,  which  a  body  that  respects  itself 
cannot  encourage." 

In  1879  ne  was  honoured  with  the  corresponding 
membership  of  the  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences,  the 
seconders  to  the  nomination  being  Helmholtz,  Peters, 
Ewald,  Pringsheim,  and  Virchow. 

In  1879  ne  was  presented  with  the  Baly  Medal  of 
the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  and  the  same  year 
the  Royal  Academy  of  Turin  gave  him  the  Bressa 
Prize  for  the  years  1875-78,  equalling  twelve  thou- 
sand francs,  a  sum  which  he  in  turn  presented  to 
the  zoological  station  at  Naples  to  enable  them  to 
purchase  some  needed  apparatus. 

On  every  birthday  he  received  gifts  from  his  many 
friends ;  one  which  he  appreciated  highly  being 
a  set  of  albums  from  Holland  and  Germany,  pre- 
sented on  his  birthday  in  1877.  The  idea  originated 
in  the  mind  of  Herr  Emil  Rade,  of  Miinster,  and 
the  gift  was  tendered  by  one  hundred  and  fifty 
scientific  men.  The  album,  which  contained  the 
photographs  of  these  gentlemen,  was  magnificently 
bound  and  illuminated  in  the  highest  style  of  art. 


152  Charles  Darwin. 

This  Darwin  considered  one  of  the  highest  compli- 
ments ever  paid  him. 

In  1880  he  was  much  gratified  upon  receiving  an 
address  presented  by  members  of  the  Council  of  the 
Birmingham  Philosophical  Society. 

The  following  is  a  partial  list  of  the  societies  which 
honoured  him  and  which  he  honoured  by  member- 
ship: 

HONOURS,  DEGREES,  SOCIETIES,  ETC 

Order.— Prussian  Order,  "  Pour  le  Merite,"  1867. 
Office. — County  Magistrate,  1857. 

(  B.A.,  1831  [1832]. 
Degrees.— Cambridge  -<  M.A.,  1837. 

(  Hon.  LL.D.,  1877. 

Breslau  .  Hon.  Doctor  in  Medicine  and  Surgery,  1862. 
Bonn  .  .  Hon.  Doctor  in  Medicine  and  Surgery,  1868. 
Leyden  .  Hon.  M.D.,  1875. 

Societies.— London     .      Zoological.     Corresp.  Member,  1831. 
Entomological.     1833.     Orig.  Member. 
Geological.     1836.     Wollaston  Medal,  1859. 
Royal  Geographical.     1838. 
Royal.    1839.    Royal  Medal,  1853.    Copley 

Medal,  1864. 
Linnsean.     1854. 
Ethnological.     1861. 

Medico-Chirurgical.     Hon.  Member.     1868. 
Baly  Medal  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physi- 
cians, 1879. 

Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  1865. 

Royal  Medical  Society  of  Edinburgh,  1826.     Hon.  Member,  1861. 
Royal  Irish  Academy.     Hon.  Member,  1866. 
Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  of  Manchester.    Hon.  Member 
1868. 

Watford  Nat.  Hist.  Society.     Hon.  Member,  1877. 
Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal.     Hon.  Member,  1871. 
Royal  Society  of  New  South  Wales.     Hon.  Member,  r879. 


Honours,  Degrees,  Societies,  Etc.         153 

Philosophical  Institute  of  Canterbury,  New  Zealand.  Hon.  Mem- 
ber, 1863. 

New  Zealand  Institute.     Hon.  Member,  1872. 

Sociedad  Cientifica  Argentina.     Hon.  Member,  1877. 

Academia  Nacional  de  Ciencias,  Argentine  Republic.  Hon. 
Member,  1878. 

Sociedad  Zoolojica  Arjentina.     Hon.  Member,  1874. 

Boston  Society  of  Natural  History.     Hon.  Member,  1873. 

American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  (Boston).  Foreign  Hon. 
Member,  1874. 

California  Academy  of  Sciences.     Hon.  Member,  1872. 

California  State  Geological  Society.     Corresp.  Member,  1877. 

Franklin  Literary  Society,  Indiana.     Hon.  Member,  1878. 

Sociedad  de  Naturalistas  Neo-Granadinos.     Hon.  Member,  1860. 

New  York  Academy  of  Sciences.     Hon.  Member,  1879. 

Gabinete  Portuguez  de  Leitura  em  Pernambuco.  Corresp.  Member, 
1879. 

Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia.    Correspondent,  1 860. 

American  Philosophical  Society,  Philadelphia.     Member,  1869. 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 

Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Vienna.     Foreign  Corresponding 
Member,  1871  ;  Hon.  Foreign  Member,  1875. 
Anthropologische  Gesellschaft  in  Wien.     Hon.  Member,  1872. 
K.  k.  Zoologisch-botanische  Gesellschaft  in  Wien.    Member,  1867. 
Magyar  Tudomanyos  Akademia,  Pest,  1872. 

BELGIUM. 

Societe  Royale  des  Sciences  Medicales  et  Naturelles  de  Bruxelles. 
Hon.  Member,  1878. 

Societe  Royale  de  Botanique  de  Belgique.  "  Membre  Associe," 
1881. 

Academic  Royale  des  Sciences,  etc.,  de  Belgique.  "Associe  de  la 
Classe  des  Sciences,"  1870. 

DENMARK. 

Royal  Society  of  Copenhagen.     Fellow,  1879. 


Charles  Darwin. 


FRANCE. 

Societe  d'Anthropologie  de  Paris.     Foreign  Member,  1871. 
Societe  Entomologique  de  France.     Hon.  Member,  1874. 
Societe  Geologique  de  France  (Life  Member),  1837. 
Institut  de  France.     "  Correspondant,"  Section  of  Botany,  1878. 


GERMANY. 

Royal  Prussian  Academy  of  Sciences  (Berlin).  Corresponding 
Member,  1863  ;  Fellow,  1878. 

Berliner  Gesellschaft  fur  Anthropologie,  etc.  Corresponding 
Member,  1877. 

Schlesische  Gesellschaft  fur  Vaterlandische  Cultur  (Breslau).  Hon. 
Member,  1878. 

Csesarea  Leopoldino-Carolina  Academia  Naturae  Curiosorum  (Dres- 
den), 1857. 

Senkenbergische  Naturforschende  Gesellschaft  zu  Frankfurt  am 
Main.  Corresponding  Member,  1873. 

Naturforschende  Gesellschaft  zu  Halle.     Member,  1879. 

Siebenburgische  Verein  fur  Naturwissenschaften  (Hermannstadt). 
Hon.  Member,  1877. 

Medicinisch-naturwissenschaftliche  Gesellschaft  zu  Jena.  Hon. 
Member,  1878. 

Royal  Bavarian  Academy  of  Literature  and  Science  (Munich). 
Foreign  Member,  1878. 

HOLLAND. 

Koninklijke  Natuurkundige  Vereeniging  in  Nederlandsch-Indie 
(Batavia).  Corresponding  Member,  1880. 

Societe  Hollandaise  des  Sciences  a  Harlem.  Foreign  Member, 
1877. 

Zeeuwsch  Genootschap  der  Wetenschappen  te  Middleburg.  For- 
eign Member,  1877. 

ITALY. 

Societa  Geografica  Italiana  (Florence),  1870. 

Societa  Italiana  di  Antropologia  e  di  Etnologia  (Florence).  Hon. 
Member,  1872. 


Honours,  Degrees,  Societies,  Etc.         155 

Societa  dei  Naturalist!  in  Modena.      Hon.  Member,  1875. 
Academia  de'  Lincei  di  Roma.     Foreign  Member,  1875. 
La  Scuola  Italica,   Academia  Pitagorica,   Reale  ed  Imp.  Societa 
(Rome).     "  Presidente  Onoraria  degli  Anzianl  Pitagorici,"  1880. 
Royal  Academy  of  Turin.      1873.     Bressa  Prize,  1879. 

PORTUGAL. 

Sociedade  de  Geographia  de  Lisboa  (Lisbon).  Corresponding 
Member,  1877. 

RUSSIA. 

Society  of  Naturalists  of  the  Imperial  Kazan  University.  Hon. 
Member,  1875. 

Societas  Csesarea  Naturae  Curiosorum  (Moscow).  Hon.  Member, 
1870. 

Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences  (St.  Petersburg).  Corresponding 
Member,  1867. 

SPAIN. 
Institucion  Libre  de  Ensenanza  (Madrid).      Hon.  Professor,  1877. 


Royal  Swedish  Acad.  of  Sciences  (Stockholm).      Foreign  Member 
1865. 

Royal  Society  of  Sciences  (Upsala).     Fellow,  1860. 

SWITZERLAND. 

Societe   des    Sciences    Naturelles   de    Neuchatel.      Corresponding 
Member,  1863. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE   DARWIN   FAMILY. 

The  First  Known  Darwin — The  Head  of  the  Family — Natural-His- 
tory Tastes — Poets,  Doctors,  and  Military  Men — Erasmus  Dar- 
win— Carlyle's  Description  of  Erasmus — Evidences  of  Genius. 


E   have  seen  that  Darwin 
possessed  all  the  elements 
of  greatness  ;  that  he  was 
not  merely  a  hero  of  sci- 
ence in  name,  but  by  vir- 
tue of  his  attainments  rose 
to   the  highest  eminence 
among  scientific  men,  and 
in  the  broad  field  of  natu- 
ral history  was  the  recog- 
nised head  and  leader. 
The  ancestry  of  such  a  man  has  a  peculiar  interest, 
especially  after  a  review  of  the  salient  features  of  his 
life. 

The  name  has  been  traced  back  to  the  year  1 500, 
when  in  Lincolnshire  and  some  other  counties  it  was 
spelled  Derwent,  Darwen,  and  Darwynne. 
156 


The  First  Known  Darwin.  \  5  7 


The  first  known  ancestor  of  the  present  Darwin 
family  was,  in  1500,  a  resident  of  the  village  of  Mar- 
ton,  near  Gainsborough.  His  name  was  William,  and 
the  records  show  that  his  great-grandson  Richard 
became  heir  to  property  in  Marton.  A  clause  in  the 
latter's  will  shows  that  he  "  bequeathed  the  sum  of 
3-f.  4<^.  towards  the  settynge  up  of  the  Queen's 
Majestie's  armes  over  the  quearie  (choir)  doore  in  the 
parishe  churche  of  Marton."  Richard's  son,  named 
William,  was  a  successful  man,  and  a  "  gentleman." 
He  retained  the  ancestral  land  at  Marton,  and  in- 
creased his  possessions  through  marriage,  adding  an 
estate  at  Cleatham,  where  he  settled,  the  property 
remaining  in  the  family  until  the  year  1760.  To-day 
all  that  remains  of  the  place  is  a  thick-walled  cottage, 
an  old  fish-pond,  some  large  trees,  and  a  field  still 
called  "  Darwin  Charity,"  from  the  fact  that  it  was 
subject  to  a  charge  in  favour  of  the  poor  of  Marton 
parish.  In  1613  William  Darwin  was  appointed  to 
the  post  of  Yeoman  of  the  Royal  Armoury  at  Green- 
wich by  King  James  the  First.  The  office  was  one 
of  honour  rather  than  profit,  and  he  appears  to  have 
held  it  until  his  death. 

The  son  of  this  William,  called  also  William,  when 
very  young  entered  the  King's  service,  receiving  a 
commission  as  "  Captain-Lieutenant  "  in  Sir  William 
Pelham's  mounted  troop.  During  the  troubles  of 
the  times,  when  the  royal  armies  were  almost  dis- 
persed and  driven  to  Scotland,  his  estates  were 
seized,  but  finally  returned  upon  his  signing  the 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant  and  paying  a  heavy 
fine,  which  almost  ruined  him.  Later  he  became  a 


158  Charles  Darwin. 

barrister  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  finally  married  the 
daughter  of  Erasmus  Earle,  from  whom  Erasmus 
Darwin  the  poet  received  his  name.  In  the  course 
of  time  he  was  made  Recorder  of  the  city  of  Lincoln. 
In  1655  a  son  was  born  to  him,  also  named 
William,  who  married  a  Miss  Waring,  a  lady  of 
good  family  and  heritage,  who  ultimately  inherited 
from  the  Lassells  the  manor  and  hall  of  Elston,  near 
Newark — property  which  is  still  in  the  family. 

The  sons  of  this  William  were  William  and  Robert ; 
the  latter  a  lawyer,  who  finally  became  heir  to  the 
property  at  Cleatham,  there  being  no  male  child  in 
his  brother's  family. 

Robert,  on  the  death  of  his  mother,  retired  from 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  resided  at  Elston 
Hall. 

In  this  member  of  the  Darwin  family  the  first 
evidence  of  a  taste  for  science  is  observed.  Robert 
was  a  member  of  the  Spalding  Club,  and  Dr.  Stuke- 
ley,  a  well-known  antiquary  of  the  time,  in  "An 
Account  of  the  Almost  Entire  Sceleton  of  a  Large 
Animal,"  etc.,  published  in  the  "  Philosophical  Trans- 
actions," April  and  May,  1719,  says  :  "  Hearing  an 
account  from  my  friend  Robert  Darwin,  Esq.,  of 
Lincoln's  Inn,  a  person  of  curiosity,  of  a  human 
sceleton  impressed  in  stone,  found  lately  by  the 
rector  of  Elston,"  etc. 

The  eldest  son  of  this  Darwin  was  Robert  Waring, 
who  came  into  the  estate  of  Elston  and  died  a  bache- 
lor at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-two.  He  developed 
a  decided  taste  for  poetry,  and  acquired  a  local 
reputation  as  a  rhyme-maker. 


Family  Histories.  159 

He  had  a  strong  liking  for  botany,  and  when  ad- 
vanced in  years  published  the  results  of  his  studies 
and  observations  in  a  work  entitled  "  Principia  Bo- 
tanica."  He  was  the  second  of  the  Darwins  to  show 
an  inclination  for  natural  history  pursuits,  and  the 
first  to  write  a  scientific  work.  The  book,  like  those 
of  his  illustrious  descendant,  was  a  success,  passing 
through  several  editions. 

A  brother  of  Robert  Waring,  William  Alvey 
Darwin,  inherited  the  Elston  homestead,  and  from 
him  it  passed  to  his  granddaughter.  His  brother 
John  was  rector  of  Elston,  while  a  fourth  son  was 
Erasmus  Darwin,  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch. 

Erasmus  was  a  tall,  striking  man,  and  his  stature 
and  love  for  nature  are  among  the  many  characteris- 
tics he  appears  to  have  bequeathed  to  his  grandson. 
Both  had  a  charm  of  manner  that  was  irresistible, 
strong  feelings  of  sympathy,  and  a  love  for  theoris- 
ing. Erasmus  possessed  an  inventive  faculty,  was 
fond  of  mechanics,  and  also  had  a  decided  literary 
and  philosophical  tendency. 

We  have  seen  that  Charles  Darwin  was  remark- 
able for  his  modesty — the  absence  of  over-appreci- 
ation of  his  own  talents, — and  it  is  interesting  to  see 
how  he  resembled  his  grandfather  in  this  respect. 
In  his  "  Life  of  Erasmus  Darwin,"  Charles  writes: 
"Throughout  his  letters  I  have  been  struck  with  his 
indifference  to  fame,  and  the  complete  absence  of  all 
signs  of  any  over-estimation  of  his  own  abilities,  or 
of  the  success  of  his  works." 

The   principal   works  of    Erasmus  Darwin  were : 


Charles  Darwin. 


"Zoonomia"  (1794-6)  and  "  Botanic  Garden,"  while 
others  were  "  The  Temple  of  Nature  ;  or,  The  Origin 
of  Society,  a  Poem,  with  Philosophical  Notes,"  and 
"The  Shrine  of  Nature,"  a  posthumous  publication  ; 
"  The  Loves  of  the  Plants,"  the  second  part  of  "  The 
Botanic  Garden,"  was  published  anonymously  in 
1789,  the  entire  poem  appearing  in  1791.  This  pro- 
duction showed  more  scientific  than  poetic  genius, 
being  especially  remarkable  for  the  grandiloquent 
phraseology  and  high-sounding  words  and  sentences 
employed.  It  was  caricatured  by  Canning  in  his 
"  Loves  of  the  Triangles."  The  poem  to-day  is  well 
deserving  a  place  among  the  curiosities  of  literature, 
and  while  its  decasyllabic  rhymed  couplets  may  not 
be  admired,  they  evidently  emanated  from  no  ordi- 
nary mind. 

An  interesting  feature  in  his  life  is  the  fact  that, 
to  quote  his  grandson,  he  undoubtedly  "  anticipated 
the  views  and  erroneous  grounds  of  opinions  of 
Lamarck,"  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  theory 
of  evolution  being  traced  in  his  writings.  Thus  he 
says  "  that  one  and  the  same  kind  of  living  filaments 
is  and  has  been  the  cause  of  all  organic  life  "  : 

"Would  it  be  too  bold  to  imagine  that,  in  the 
great  length  of  time  since  the  earth  began  to  exist, 
perhaps  millions  of  ages  before  the  commencement 
of  the  history  of  mankind,  —  would  it  be  too  bold  to 
imagine  that  all  warm-blooded  animals  have  arisen 
from  one  living  filament,  which  the  great  First  Cause 
endued  with  animality,  with  the  power  of  acquiring 
new  parts,  attended  with  new  propensities,  directed 
by  irritations,  sensations,  volitions,  and  associations, 


Family  Histories.  161 

and  thus  possessing  the  faculty  of  continuing  to 
improve  by  its  own  inherent  activity,  and  of  deliver- 
ing down  these  improvements  by  generation  to  its 
posterity,  world  without  end  ?  " 

Erasmus  Darwin  also  published  a  paper  on  "  Fe- 
male Education  in  Boarding-Schools."  His  work, 
"  Zoonomia,"  was  reviewed  in  1799  by  Thomas 
Brown,  the  psychologist,  and  in  1804  Anna  Seward 
published  an  account  of  his  life. 

The  sons  of  Erasmus  inherited  their  father's  intel- 
lectual ability — Charles,  who  was  born  in  1758  and 
died  when  just  of  age,  giving  promise  of  high  scien- 
tific attainments.  He  was  engaged  in  dissecting  the 
brain  of  a  child  when  he  received  the  wound  which 
caused  his  death.  He  was  a  writer  of  verse,  and  the 
possessor  of  a  rich  collection  of  natural  objects, 
which  he  made  during  extensive  travels  on  the  con- 
tinent. He  studied  medicine  at  Edinburgh,  and 
received  the  first  gold  medal  of  the  ^Esculapian 
Society  for  a  paper  on  a  medical  subject. 

Erasmus,  a  second  son,  was  also  a  poet.  He  was 
especially  interested  in  coins  and  statistics,  and,  when 
a  boy,  made  a  complete  and  accurate  census  of  the 
city  of  Lichfield.  Robert  Waring  Darwin,  born 
May  30,  1766,  inherited  his  father's  taste  for  the 
medical  profession,  and  went  to  the  University  of 
Leyden,  taking  his  degree  of  M.D.  in  February, 
1785.  He  proved  a  very  successful  physician,  secur- 
ing a  large  practice  even  in  the  very  beginning  of  his 
career. 

In  1796  he  married  Susannah  Wedgwood,  of 
Etruria,  a  woman  of  rare  intelligence  and  great  force, 


Charles  Darwin. 


of  character.  They  lived  at  the  "Crescent,"  and 
later  at  the  "  Mount,"  in  Shrewsbury,  where  all  but 
one  of  their  children  were  born.  The  old  house,  a 
large  red-brick  building,  is  now  owned  by  Mr. 
Spencer  Phillips.  It  stands  on  the  banks  of  the 
Severn,  commanding  a  fine  view,  and  supplied  with 
all  the  acceptable  features  of  an  English  country 
home. 

Dr.  Darwin  was  something  of  a  botanist,  though 
not  in  a  scientific  sense.  He  was  tall,  like  his  son 
Charles,  standing  six  feet  two  inches,  and  very  large 
and  fleshy.  His  mental  characteristics  were  similar 
to  those  of  his  son,  having  a  broad,  tender  nature, 
with  great  sympathy  for  others.  He  was  a  man  of 
remarkable  memory,  and  could  recall  the  names  of 
so  many  persons  and  the  date  of  their  birth,  mar- 
riage, and  death,  that  it  was  absolutely  painful  to 
him.  He  was  extremely  skilful  in  prognosticating 
disease,  and  was  so  prophetic  in  many  of  his  sayings 
that  he  was  considered  a  wonder  by  the  ignorant. 
Dr.  Darwin  became  the  father  of  six  children  — 
Marianne,  Caroline,  Erasmus  Alvey,  Susan,  Charles, 
and  Catherine,  of  whom  Charles  and  Erasmus  are 
the  best  known.  The  latter  studied  medicine,  taking 
a  degree  at  Cambridge,  but  never  practised,  living  a 
retired  and  single  life  in  London.  Carlyle  thus  refers 
to  him  in  his  "  Reminiscences  "  : 

"  Erasmus  Darwin,  a  most  diverse  kind  of  mortal, 
came  to  seek  us  out  very  soon  ('  had  heard  of  Car- 
lyle in  Germany,  etc.'),  and  continues  ever  since  to 
be  a  quiet  house-friend,  honestly  attached,  though 
his  visits  latterly  have  been  rarer  and  rarer,  health 


Erasmus  Darwin.  163 

so  poor,  I  so  occupied,  etc.,  etc.  He  had  something 
of  original  and  sarcastically  ingenious  in  him,  one 
of  the  sincerest,  naturally  truest,  and  most  modest  of 
men ;  elder  brother  of  Charles  Darwin  (the  famed 
Darwin  on  Species  of  these  days),  to  whom  I  rather 
prefer  him  for  intellect,  had  not  his  health  quite 
doomed  him  to  silence  and  patient  idleness.  .  .  . 
My  dear  one  had  a  great  furor  for  this  honest  Dar- 
win always  ;  many  a  road,  to  shops  and  the  like,  he 
drove  her  in  his  cab  (Darwingium  Cabbum  compara- 
ble to  Georgium  Sidus)  in  those  early  days  when 
even  the  charge  of  omnibuses  was  a  consideration, 
and  his  sparse  utterances,  sardonic  often,  were  a 
great  amusement  to  her.  '  A  perfect  gentleman,'  she 
at  once  discerned  him  to  be,  and  of  sound  worth 
and  kindliness  in  the  most  unaffected  form." 

This  description  failed  to  convey  an  idea  of  the 
truly  lovable  nature  of  Erasmus,  and  brought  out 
the  following  letter,  which  was  published  by  Miss 
Julia  Wedgwood,  in  the  Spectator,  September  3,  1881, 
giving  a  true  pen  picture  of  the  genial  and  much 
beloved  brother  of  Charles  Darwin  the  naturalist : 

"  A  portrait  from  Mr.  Carlyle's  portfolio,  not  re- 
gretted by  any  one  who  loved  the  original,  surely 
confers  sufficient  distinction  to  warrant  a  few  words 
of  notice,  when  the  character  it  depicts  is  drawn 
from  mortal  gaze.  Erasmus,  the  only  brother  of 
Charles  Darwin,  and  the  faithful  and  affectionate 
old  friend  of  both  the  Carlyles,  has  left  a  circle  of 
mourners  who  need  no  tribute  from  illustrious  pen 
to  embalm  the  memory  so  dear  to  their  hearts ;  but 
a  wider  circle  must  have  felt  some  interest  excited 


164  Charles  Darwin. 

by  that  tribute,  and  may  receive  with  a  certain  at- 
tention the  record  of  a  unique  and  indelible  impres- 
sion, even  though  it  be  made  only  on  the  hearts  of 
those  who  cannot  bequeath  it,  and  with  whom, 
therefore,  it  must  speedily  pass  away.  They  re- 
member it  with  the  same  distinctness  as  they  re- 
member a  creation  of  genius  ;  it  has  in  like  manner 
enriched  and  sweetened  life,  formed  a  common  meet- 
ing-point for  those  who  had  no  other ;  and,  in  its 
strong  fragrance  of  individuality,  enforced  that  re- 
spect for  the  idiosyncrasies  of  human  character, 
without  which  moral  judgment  is  always  hard  and 
shallow,  and  often  unjust.  Carlyle  was  one  to  find  a 
peculiar  enjoyment  in  the  combination  of  liveliness 
and  repose  which  gave  his  friend's  society  an  in- 
fluence at  once  stimulating  and  soothing,  and  the 
warmth  of  his  appreciation  was  not  made  known 
first  in  its  expression  ;  his  letters  of  anxiety  nearly 
thirty  years  ago,  when  the  frail  life  which  has  been 
prolonged  to  old  age  was  threatened  by  serious  ill- 
ness, are  still  fresh  in  my  memory.  The  friendship 
was  equally  warm  with  both  husband  and  wife.  I  re- 
member well  a  pathetic  little  remonstrance  from  her, 
elicited  by  an  avowal  from  Erasmus  Danvin,  that  he 
preferred  cats  to  dogs,  which  she  felt  a  slur  on  her 
little  '  Nero ' ;  and  the  tones  in  which  she  said,  '  Oh, 
but  you  are  fond  of  dogs  !  you  are  too  kind  not  to 
be,'  spoke  of  a  long  vista  of  small  gracious  kind- 
nesses, remembered  with  a  tender  gratitude.  He 
was  intimate  also  with  a  person  whose  friends,  like 
those  of  Mr.  Carlyie,  have  not  always  had  cause  to 
congratulate  themselves  on  their  place  in  her  gal- 


Erasmus  Compared  to  C harks  Lamb.     165 


lery — Harriet  Martineau.  I  have  heard  him  more 
than  once  call  her  a  faithful  friend,  and  it  always 
seemed  to  me  a  curious  tribute  to  something  in  the 
friendship  that  he  alone  supplied  ;  but  if  she  had 
written  of  him  at  all,  I  believe  the  mention,  in  its 
heartiness  of  appreciation,  would  have  afforded  a 
rare  and  curious  meeting-point  with  the  other  '  Remi- 
niscences/ so  like  and  yet  so  unlike.  It  is  not  possible 
to  transfer  the  impression  of  a  character ;  we  can 
only  suggest  it  by  means  of  some  resemblance ; 
and  it  is  a  singular  illustration  of  that  irony  which 
checks  or  directs  our  sympathies,  that  in  trying  to 
give  some  notion  of  the  man  whom,  among  those 
who  were  not  his  kindred,  Carlyle  appears  to  have 
most  loved,  I  can  say  nothing  more  descriptive  than 
that  he  seems  to  me  to  have  had  something  in  com- 
mon with  the  man  whom  Carlyle  least  appreciated. 
The  society  of  Erasmus  Darwin  had,  to  my  mind, 
much  the  same  charm  as  the  writings  of  Charles 
Lamb.  There  was  the  same  kind  of  playfulness, 
the  same  lightness  of  touch,  the  same  tenderness, 
perhaps  the  same  limitations.  On  another  side  of 
his  nature,  I  have  often  been  reminded  of  him  by 
the  quaint,  delicate  humour,  the  superficial  intoler- 
ance, the  deep  springs  of  pity,  the  peculiar  mixture 
of  something  pathetic  with  a  sort  of  gay  scorn,  en- 
tirely remote  from  contempt,  which  distinguish  the 
Ellesmere  of  Sir  Arthur  Helps'  earlier  dialogues. 
Perhaps  we  recall  such  natures  most  distinctly,  when 
such  a  resemblance  is  all  that  is  left  of  them.  The 
character  is  not  merged  in  the  creation  ;  and  what 
we  lose  in  the  power  to  communicate  our  impres- 


1 66  Charles  Darwin. 


sion,  we  seem  to  gain  in  its  vividness.  Erasmus 
Darwin  has  passed  away  in  old  age,  yet  his  memory 
retains  something  of  a  youthful  fragrance ;  his  in- 
fluence gave  much  happiness,  of  a  kind  usually 
associated  with  youth,  to  many  lives  besides  the 
illustrious  one  whose  records  justify,  though  cer- 
tainly they  do  not  inspire,  the  wish  to  place  this 
fading  chaplet  on  his  grave." 

From  such  an  ancestry,  distinguished  for  its  liter- 
ary and  scientific  traits,  our  hero  sprang,  the  bright 
light  in  a  long  line  of  men  and  women  eminent  for 
their  intellectual  superiority. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

DARWINISM. 

The  Coining  of  the  Word — What  it  Means — Its  Relation  to  Evolution 
— ' '  The  Survival  of  the  Fittest  "— "  The  Struggle  for  Existence  " 
— The  Descent — Examples  of  Evolution. 

HE  scientific  labours  of 
Darwin  have  resulted  in 
the  addition  of  a  new 
word  —  Darwinism  —  to 
the  English  language, — 
indeed,  to  that  of  the 
world.  Literally,  Darwin- 
ism is  Charles  Darwin's 
explanation  of  the  law 
or  method  of  evolution. 
To  enable  the  reader  to 
obtain  a  clear  understand- 
ing of  what  was,  in  reality,  the  life-work  of  the  great 
naturalist,  we  may  refer  briefly  to  the  theory  and 
history  of  evolution.  We  first  hear  of  the  word,  or 
find  it,  in  scientific  literature  in  the  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Previous  to  this,  or  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  popular  idea  of  the  genera- 
tion of  life  was  that  promulgated  by  Aristotle,  his 
167 


168  Charles  Darwin. 


theory  finding  at  this  time  a  brilliant  advocate  in 
Harvey,  who  is  better  known  as  the  discoverer  of 
the  circulation  of  the  blood.  In  the  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century  many  naturalists  combated  Har- 
vey and  the  theory  of  his  day,  and  the  term  evolu- 
tion was  adopted  as  defining  the  belief  of  such 
naturalists  as  Bonnet,  who  claimed  that  in  life 
nothing  really  new  was  created,  but  that  there  was 
an  expansion  or  growth  from  the  invisible  to  the 
visible ;  an  unfolding,  as  in  the  growth  of  a  chicken, 
from  the  faint  germ  within  the  egg.  The  term  evo- 
lution, from  the  Latin  e,  out,  and  volvo,  to  roll, 
literally  to  unfold,  implies  this.  The  idea  opposes 
direct  creation,  and  evidences  of  it  are  found  among 
the  very  ancient  myths.  Thus  an  old  Egyptian 
belief  was  that  all  life  sprang  successively  from  an 
egg,  and  that  there  had  been  repeated  destructions 
of  the  world.  The  doctrine  of  Thales  was  that  every 
thing  was  originally  in  a  fluid  state,  and  had  "  pro- 
gressed "  to  more  substantial  forms.  Anaxagoras 
believed  and  taught  that  in  the  beginning  every  thing 
was  atomic,  out  of  which  order  and  arrangement 
were  brought  by  some  infinite  power.  In  later  times 
(1693)  Leibnitz  first  propounded  the  belief  in  in- 
organic evolution,  stating  that  the  world  first  existed 
in  a  fluid  state.  De  Maillet,  Wright,  Lambert,  and 
Kaul  voiced  the  idea,  while  Herschel,  La  Place,  and 
others  gave  it  further  and  more  lucid  elaboration. 
In  1749  Buff  on  published  a  natural  history,  in  which 
he  evinced  a  belief  in  the  transmutation  of  species. 

Buffon  was  the  naturalist  of  the  day  in  the  time  of 
Louis  XV.   and   Louis    XVI. — a   period   somewhat 


Buff  on  s    Theories.  169 

famous  for  the  restrictions  which  were  placed  upon 
men,  and  the  denunciations  with  which  new  and 
advanced  ideas  were  received.  Thus  advanced 
thinkers  found  that  their  theories  in  many  instances, 
instead  of  leading  them  on  to  fame,  but  opened  the 
doors  of  the  Bastile. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  Buffon  was  in  accord 
with  the  feeling  of  the  time,  as  while  his  great 
discursive  work — "  Histoire  Naturelle,"  of  1749-1788 
— fully  outlines  the  theory  of  evolution,  in  which 
he  was  a  believer,  it  is  done  in  an  ironical,  partly 
satirical  manner,  so  that  he  could,  if  attacked,  retreat 
by  claiming  that  it  was  a  satire  on  the  advanced 
scientific  thought  of  the  time. 

Buffon  refers  to  the  fact  that  animals  and  plants 
are  not  bound  to  the  limitation  of  certain  fixed 
species,  and  expresses  the  belief  that,  affected  by 
various  influences,  species  may  vary  from  a  fixed 
standard.  Even  man  might  have  sprung  from  some 
original  stock,  being  merely  a  divergent  form  or 
branch.  In  other  words,  Buffon  claimed  that  by 
simply  following  out  the  laws  of  nature  the  con- 
sequent variation  would  result  in  new  species  ;  and 
having  arrived  at  this  point,  he  was  ready  to  believe 
that  from  a  single  unit  in  the  beginning  might  have 
descended  all  the  various  forms  of  existing  animal 
and  plant  life. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  this  pioneer  evolutionist 
suddenly  corrects  himself,  and  says  :  "  But  no  ;  it  is 
certain  from  revelation  that  every  species  was  di- 
rectly created  by  a  separate  fiat."  We  may  suspect 
that  this  secession  from  a  position  so  broadly  taken 


Charles  Darwin. 


was  forced  upon  the  evolutionist.  Perhaps  the  clergy 
gave  him  close  and  suggestive  attention,  and  he  was 
offered  the  choice  between  the  Bastile,  the  Sorbonne, 
and  apology  to  offended  orthodoxy.  Be  this  as  it 
may,  Buffon  was  one  of  the  early  delineators  of  the 
modern  theory  of  evolution,  and  despite  his  peculiar 
attitude  history  accords  him  this  recognition. 

Following  Buffon  came  Wolff  and  his  works  in 
1759-1764,  in  which  the  idea  was  still  further  elab- 
orated. He  emphasised  the  fact  that  the  parts  of 
plants  and  animals  underwent  transmutations  of 
structure,  so  that  from  seeds,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
eggs  on  the  other,  came  the  many  complex  and  di- 
verse organisms.  In  1790  Goethe,  in  his  work,  "  The 
Metamorphosis  of  Plants,"  worked  out  indepen- 
dently the  same  result,  showing  another  instance  as 
singular  as  that  of  Darwin  and  Wallace,  previously 
alluded  to  in  these  pages.  In  1795  Geoffrey  St. 
Hilaire,  a  French  naturalist,  announced  his  belief 
that  all  animals  were  the  modified  forms  of  previous 
existing  types.  Then  came  Oken  (1803),  Pander 
(1817),  and  Von  Baer  (1819),  all  adding  many  facts 
of  value  and  interest  bearing  upon  the  subject.  In 
1838  Schleiden  and  Schwann  proved  that  the  cell- 
form  was  alike  in  animals  and  plants  ;  and  in  1850-61 
Von  Mohl  and  Max  Schultze  showed  that  the  pro- 
toplasm of  animals  was  similar  to  that  of  plants. 

To  go  back  again,  we  find  that  in  1774  Lord 
Monboddo  announced  that  the  descent  of  man  from 
an  ape  was  a  possibility.  In  1795  Dr.  Erasmus  Dar- 
win, grandfather  of  our  hero,  published  his  "  Zoo- 
nomia,"  which  contained  the  germ  of  the  theory 


Lamarck's   Crusades. 


of  evolution.  He  accepted  the  idea  of  Buffon,  that 
species  were  the  results  of  modifications  in  the  slow 
generation  of  life,  and  added  that  these  modifica- 
tions arose  from  the  actions  and  requirements  of  the 
animals  themselves. 

This  work  produced  little  or  no  immediate  effect, 
but  it  undoubtedly  influenced  many  naturalists  who 
followed,  including  Lamarck,  Lyell,  Spencer,  and, 
chief  of  all,  the  grandson  of  Erasmus,  Charles  Dar- 
win, who  in  the  present  age  stood  as  the  leading 
apostle  of  the  theory. 

In  1801  Lamarck  began  his  series  of  crusades 
against  the  opponents  of  evolution.  Bold,  frank, 
imperious  in  his  mental  sovereignty,  he  had  neither 
the  caution  of  Buffon  nor  the  deference  to  the 
Church  and  public  opinion  shown  by  many  of  his 
predecessors.  What  he  thought,  he  wrote,  and  what 
he  believed  in,  he  announced  to  the  world,  fortifying 
it  with  proofs  from  the  abundant  resources  of  his 
mind,  stored  with  the  results  of  a  lifetime  of  research. 
Of  this  giant  of  science  Charles  Darwin  writes  :  "  He 
first  did  the  eminent  service  of  arousing  attention  to 
the  probability  of  all  change,  in  the  organic  as  well 
as  in  the  inorganic  world,  being  the  result  of  law  and 
not  of  miraculous  interposition.  Lamarck  seems  to 
have  been  chiefly  led  to  his  conclusion  on  the  grad- 
ual change  of  species  by  the  difficulty  of  distinguish- 
ing species  and  varieties,  by  the  almost  perfect 
gradation  of  forms  in  certain  groups,  and  by  the 
analogy  of  domestic  productions.  With  respect  to 
the  means  of  modification,  he  attributed  something 
to  the  direct  action  of  the  physical  conditions  of 


Charles  Darwin. 


life,  something  to  the  crossing  of  already  existing 
forms,  and  much  to  use  and  disuse  —  that  is,  to  the 
effects  of  habit.  To  this  latter  agency  he  seems  to 
attribute  all  the  beautiful  adaptations  in  nature- 
such  as  the  long  neck  of  the  giraffe  for  browsing  on 
the  branches  of  trees."  Lamarck's  theory  may  be 
expressed  briefly  :  he  avowed  that  all  life,  including 
man,  had  descended  by  various  modifications  from 
one  or  more  primordial  forms,  and  he  believed  that 
the  various  animals  had  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
been  developed  by  their  habits,  their  efforts  to  live, 
and  the  conditions  which  surrounded  them. 

No  writer  of  the  day  produced  the  effect  of  La- 
marck. His  "  Philosophic  Zoologique  "  influenced 
the  scientific  sentiment  of  all  Europe,  and  the  writ- 
ings of  the  men  of  his  time  and  ever  since  are  tinc- 
tured with  his  philosophy. 

In  the  year  1844  renewed  interest  was  created  in 
the  subject  by  the  appearance  of  a  work  entitled 
"  Vestiges  of  Creation,"  supposed  to  be  written  by 
Robert  Chambers.  Humboldt  now  affirmed  his  be- 
lief that  species  are  not  immutable,  and  following 
came  Owen,  Asa  Gray,  Herbert  Spencer,  Youmans, 
and  many  more  who  had  thought  upon  evolution 
and  believed  in  it  in  some  form. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  evolution  as  a  theory  is 
not  of  recent  origin,  but  was  discussed  pro  and  con 
until  the  time  described  in  a  previous  chapter,  when 
Charles  Darwin  and  Alfred  Wallace  came  out  simul- 
taneously with  their  views  on  the  subject  ;  then 
Darwinism  was  born,  and  in  it  we  find  our  hero's 
explanation  of  the  method  of  evolution. 


Darwin  s  Theories.  173 


This  leads  us  to  a  review  of  Darwin's  theories, 
which  were,  as  we  have  seen,  the  result  of  years  of 
thought  and  research,  and  which  have  conquered  or 
won  nearly  the  entire  scientific  world  of  thought. 
We  have  seen  that  his  observations  in  South  Amer- 
ica and  elsewhere  created  the  germ  which  itself,  by 
a  series  of  evolutions,  assumed  the  well-defined 
and  philosophical  form  of  the  theory  of  Darwin  of 
to-day. 

The  evolutionists  taught  that  the  various  species 
were  the  simple  result  of  an  unfolding,  a  develop- 
ment, a  growth  with  constant  occurring  change ; 
but  they  did  not  tell  us  how  the  change  was  created. 
Darwin  did,  and  this  is  how  he  accomplished  it . 
Probably  every  reader  of  this  work  has,  at  some  time 
in  his  life,  been  the  owner  of  pets — rabbits,  dogs,  or 
cats,  and  has  from  experience  obtained  certain  well- 
defined  ideas  of  the  results  which  can  be  produced 
by  careful  breeding  and  intelligent  selection.  It  is 
known  that  the  race-horse  is  one  result  of  carefully 
selecting  horses  generation  after  generation  which 
have  shown  similar  characteristics.  Trotters  with  a 
record  are  mated  ;  so  with  running  horses,  those 
adapted  for  the  carriage,  or  the  plough,  and  the 
result  is  existing  varieties  of  the  domestic  horse. 
Man  began  with  the  original  blue-rock  pigeon, 
and  has  produced  all  the  famous  varieties — the 
tumblers,  pouters,  carriers,  and  others,  this  being 
accomplished  by  careful  and  intelligent  selection. 
In  dogs,  the  original  companion  of  early  man  was 
a  wild  animal  allied  to  the  wolf.  To  produce  the 
many  varieties  (which  some  naturalists  call  species), 


,74  Charles  Darwin. 


man  has  acted  with  careful  discrimination.  A  dog 
with  especially  long  hair  has  been  selected  and  bred 
with  another  showing  like  characteristics.  Among 
the  progeny  of  these  all  the  long-haired  dogs  were 
selected  and  as  carefully  mated,  until  finally  a  well- 
defined  long-haired  variety  was  the  result,  so  that  in 
looking  at  it  the  observer,  familiar  with  none  but  the 
wild,  wolf-like  dogs,  would  have  said  :  "  Yes,  it  seems 
to  be  a  dog,  but  it  differs  from  the  others  ;  it  is  a 
new  variety  of  dog." 

So  the  original  jungle  fowl,  under  the  supervision 
of  the  breeder,  has  been  made  to  produce  the  many 
curious  varieties  of  fowl ;  and  so  we  could  go  on  in- 
definitely, citing  cases  where  man  has  shown  his 
power  of  producing  certain  singular  results  in  the 
shape  and  form  of  living  beings.  The  greyhound, 
with  its  enormous  chest,  its  narrow,  pointed  nose,  its 
slender  legs,  every  feature  denoting  speed,  is  a  marked 
contrast  to  the  Dachhound,  with  its  short  bow-legs 
and  ungainly  form  ;  yet  each  can  be  traced  back  to 
a  common  stock.  Man  has  produced  this  marvellous 
transformation  by  making  a  study  of  dogs,  selecting 
those  with  certain  peculiarities  and  mating  them, 
which  has  resulted  in  a  form  which,  when  compared 
to  the  original,  is  called  a  variety. 

That  similar  conditions  also  hold  in  the  human 
race,  and  could  be  carried  out  indefinitely,  is  shown 
by  a  well-known  instance  cited  by  Professor  Huxley. 
He  says  :  "  Gratio  Kelleia,  a  Maltese  with  six  fingers 
and  six  toes,  married  when  he  was  twenty-two  years 
of  age,  and,  as  I  suppose  there  were  no  six-fingered 
ladies  in  Malta,  he  married  an  ordinary  five-fingered 


Heredity.  1 75 


person.  The  result  of  that  marriage  was  four  chil- 
dren ;  the  first,  who  was  christened  Salvator,  had 
six  fingers  and  six  toes,  like  his  father  ;  the  second 
was  George,  who  had  five  fingers  and  toes,  but  one 
of  them  was  deformed,  showing  a  tendency  to  varia- 
tion ;  the  third  was  Andre  ;  he  had  five  fingers  and 
five  toes,  quite  perfect ;  the  fourth  was  a  girl,  Marie ; 
she  had  five  fingers  and  five  toes,  but  her  thumbs 
were  deformed,  showing  a  tendency  towards  the 
sixth. 

"  These  children  grew  up,  and  when  they  came  to 
adult  years,  they  all  married,  and  of  course  it  hap- 
pened that  they  all  married  five-fingered  and  five- 
toed  persons.  Now  let  us  see  what  were  the  results. 
Salvator  had  four  children  ;  they  were  two  boys,  a 
girl,  and  another  boy :  the  first  two  boys  and  the 
girl  were  six-fingered  and  six-toed  like  their  grand- 
father ;  the  fourth  boy  had  only  five  fingers  and  five 
toes.  George  had  only  four  children ;  they  were 
two  girls  with  six  fingers  and  five  toes  on  the  right 
side,  and  five  fingers  and  five  toes  on  the  left  side, 
so  that  she  was  half  and  half.  The  last,  a  boy,  had 
five  fingers  and  five  toes.  The  third,  Andre,  you 
will  recollect,  was  perfectly  well  formed,  and  he  had 
many  children  whose  hands  and  feet  were  all  regu- 
larly developed.  Marie,  the  last,  who,  of  course, 
married  a  man  who  had  only  five  fingers,  had  four 
children  :  the  first,  a  boy,  was  born  with  six  toes, 
but  the  other  three  were  normal." 

The  appearance  of  the  sixth  finger  in  this  man 
illustrates  the  fact  that  all  life,  from  the  lowest  forms 
to  man  inclusive,  is  liable  to  variation ;  some  peculi- 


Charles  Darwin. 


arity  may  appear.  We  may  call  it  a  monstrosity,  a 
freak,  or  an  accident,  but  if  the  conditions  are  nor- 
mal, the  chances  are  that  it  will  be  perpetuated  to 
some  extent,  while  if  they  are  extremely  favourable 
it  may  be  transmitted  indefinitely.  There  is  no  con- 
troverting this  ;  it  is  a  simple  fact  understood  by 
everyone.  Darwin  recognised  it,  and  accumulated 
a  vast  amount  of  testimony  showing  its  possibilities 
in  all  ranks  of  life  ;  and  seeing  that  varieties  could 
be  produced  in  domestic  animals  and  plants,  he  laid 
down  the  theory  that  almost  the  same  selection  and 
discrimination  are  taking  place  in  nature  ;  the  ten- 
dency being  to  perpetuate  certain  features,  which  in 
time  become  so  prominent  that  they  assume  the 
dignity  of  varieties.  As  an  illustration  I  cite  an 
instance  of  my  own  observation.  We  have  seen  that 
man  produces  the  trotter  by  weeding  out  those 
which  vary  from  this  type  ;  now  let  us  glance  at 
nature  and  note  how  animals  may  gradually  assume 
a  like  appearance  by  selection.  Several  years  ago 
I  was  drifting  along  on  the  edge  of  the  Sargasso 
Sea,  when  my  attention  was  attracted  to  the  re- 
markable fauna  of  the  weed.  Here  was  the  curious 
fish,  Antennarius,  lying  prone  upon  the  weed  near  its 
nest  —  a  ball  of  sargassum.  Had  I  not  been  familiar 
with  the  little  creature  it  would  have  escaped  my 
notice,  as  its  colouring  was  identical  with  that  of  its 
surroundings  :  not  a  fanciful  resemblance  but  one 
in  fact  ;  the  very  tints  and  hues  being  imitated  as  if 
the  fronds  and  leaves  of  the  sargassum  had  been 
photographed  on  the  sides  of  this  curious  mimic. 
The  crabs  all  partook  of  the  same  protective  favour, 


;OLLECTINa   IN   THE   SAKGASSO   SEA. 


Crabs,  Worms,  and  Fishes.  1 77 


and  could  only  be  detected  by  the  most  careful  ob- 
servation. The  worms  were  of  deep  tints  of  olive 
and  yellow,  and  so  on  all  through  this  floating  city  ; 
the  same  brush,  the  same  colours,  the  same  artist  had 
been  employed,  each  and  every  living  creature  being 
in  colour  a  mimic  of  the  vast  weed  bed  that  consti- 
tuted their  floating  home. 

The  fact  that  I  could  not  find  the  crabs  and  other 
forms  without  difficulty,  though  they  were  floating 
upon  the  surface,  often  in  full  view,  suggested  at 
once  that  here  nature  had  provided  a  wondrous  pro- 
tection, and  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  sargassum 
were  safe  from  their  many  enemies  in  their  mimicry. 

But  how  was  this  condition  obtained  ?  The  crabs, 
worms,  and  fishes  of  this  mass  of  weed  were  not 
always  thus  protected.  We  know  that  long  ago  or 
in  the  past  they  lived  elsewhere,  and  came  as  immi- 
grants to  the  floating  home,  and  were  then  in  strik- 
ing contrast  to  it.  How  then  could  this  great  change 
have  been  produced  ?  Assuming  that  the  crabs  and 
other  forms  have  recently  taken  up  their  residence 
here,  we  notice  that  they  are  not  all  alike  in  colour; 
there  is  a  disposition  to  vary.  Some  are  darker  than 
others,  some  lighter,  some  are  spotted,  and  a  few 
perhaps  resemble  the  colour  of  the  weed.  The  latter 
are  accidents,  freaks,  just  as  in  the  case  of  the  dogs 
where  perhaps  one  or  two  showed  an  abnormal  de- 
velopment of  hair.  In  this  instance  man  did  the 
selecting ;  but  in  the  case  of  the  crabs  it  is  a  gull,  or 
many  that  are  soaring  over  the  weed  in  search  of 
food.  The  freaks  or  varieties  which  happen  to  re- 
semble the  weed,  being  inconspicuous,  are  not 


Charles  Darwin. 


noticed,  while  the  others,  presenting  a  marked  con- 
trast are  seen,  and  devoured.  This  continues  year  in 
and  year  out  ;  crabs  which  are  conspicuous  are  eaten, 
and  the  tendency  is  to  weed  them  out,  leaving  those 
which  bear  a  resemblance  to  their  surroundings. 
These  breed  and  produce  others  ;  some  of  which 
mimic  the  weed,  and  some  do  not.  The  latter  are 
soon  picked  up  by  their  enemies,  the  others  being 
preserved  to  perpetuate  their  kind  through  the 
agency  of  the  bird  that  acts  in  the  place  of  the 
intelligent  breeder. 

We  see,  then,  as  Darwin  believed,  that  nature  is 
doing  almost  exactly  what  man  does  in  producing 
varieties. 

In  the  life  of  these  animals  there  is  a  strife  or 
struggle  for  existence  with  the  conditions  that  work 
against  them.  Some  survive,  and  only  those  which 
are  the  fittest  to  carry  on  the  work  of  perpetuation. 
The  struggle,  the  silent  combats  or  tendencies  to 
survive,  are  what  Darwin  calls  natural  selection,  while 
Herbert  Spencer  styles  it  the  survival  of  the  fittest 
—  terms  which  have  become  bywords  in  their  famili- 
arity to  the  readers  of  the  present  century. 

An  instance  in  plant  life  may  still  further  illustrate 
the  point  that  accident,  a  peculiarity,  a  series  of  con- 
ditions —  climate,  food,  etc.,  may  act  in  time  in  evolv- 
ing from  one  form  a  variety  of  the  same.  We  will 
assume,  taking  an  adapted  example  of  Darwin's, 
that  the  earth  in  a  certain  field  on  Staten  Island  pos- 
sesses accidentally  certain  ingredients  or  qualities 
which  impart  to  the  plant  growing  in  it  peculiar 
strength  to  certain  tissues,  or  such  nourishment  that 


Development  of  Plants.  179 

certain  parts  of  the  plant  develop  to  a  greater  extent 
than  others.  Assume  that  this  abnormal  growth 
finds  expression  in  an  unusual  development  of  the 
hairs  that  are  found  on  the  plants,  especially  those 
on  the  seeds.  It  is  entirely  an  accident  we  will  say, 
just  as  in  the  case  of  the  sixth  finger  of  the  Maltese, 
and  it  would  perhaps  at  a  casual  glance  appear  a  very 
insignificant  feature ;  yet  the  contrary  holds.  We 
know  that  the  past  history  of  this  plant  has  been 
that  the  seeds  dropped  about  the  parent  became 
fixed,  threatening  to  choke  it,  fairly  covering  the 
ground,  so  that  many  were  killed,  while  only  the 
strong  and  hardy  survived.  These  seeds  are  carry- 
ing on  a  silent  struggle  for  existence,  and  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest  is  expressed  by  the  one  that 
outlives  the  rest.  Now  when  this  accidental  long- 
haired seed  drops  from  the  seed-pod  it  is  at  once 
subject  to  a  new  condition.  The  hairs  like  sails  offer 
a  greater  resistance  to  the  wind  that  is  blowing 
over  the  field  than  the  hairs  on  the  seeds  of  former 
generations,  and  the  result  is  that  having  more 
sail  in  the  aerial  flight  the  seed  attains  a  longer 
distance,  outstripping  all  its  short-haired  or  short- 
sailed  companions,  and  instead  of  falling  to  the  earth 
with  a  score  of  others,  to  grow  up  in  a  bunch  and 
contend  and  struggle  for  the  food  elements  in  the 
soil,  it  is  hurled  into  the  air,  as  you  have  seen  the 
wonderful  seed  of  the  thistle,  and  goes  bounding 
along,  to  fall  perhaps  half  a  mile  away  in  a  new  field 
where  there  is  more  room  and  liberty.  When  the 
seeds  sprout  and  grow,  the  resultant  plants  will  be 
hardier  than  their  immediate  parent.  Now  assume 


i  So  Charles  Darwin. 

that  a  seed  has  found  in  its  new  home  the  same  nu- 
trition that  gave  rise  to  the  original  abnormal  growth, 
what  will  be  the  result  ?  The  long-haired  seeds  will 
not  only  be  perpetuated,  but  will,  owing  to  the 
absence  of  a  struggle  with  others,  be  more  pro- 
nounced, and  the  seeds  presenting  the  most  sail,  to 
use  the  expression,  will  still  lead  in  the  race,  and  go 
sailing  away  to  new  fields  where  the  competition  and 
struggle  are  less.  Suppose  these  conditions  prevail 
genejation  after  generation,  and  the  seeds  have  been 
carried  by  the  wind  over  the  Narrows,  down  on  to 
Long  Island,  and  into  Connecticut,  and  if  after  many 
years,  ages  perhaps,  we  could  compare  a  seed  with 
one  that  fell  on  the  original  field  on  Staten  Island, 
we  should  note  that  the  wanderer  had  deviated  from 
the  original ;  that  while  it  resembled  it,  it  was  now  a 
variety,  and  had  taken  what  we  might  term  a  step  in 
the  march  of  evolution.  Now  suppose  that  other 
seeds  from  this  plant  where  they  had  fallen  had  be- 
come affected  or  influenced  by  some  other  nutritious 
element  that  tended  to  give  them  a  thicker  coating 
or  harder  case  ;  in  others  it  produced  a  greater  secre- 
tion of  some  essential  oil,  and  so  on.  By  following 
up  their  histories  and  finally  in  after  ages  comparing 
all  the  wanderers  with  the  primitive  stock,  we  should 
find  that  we  had  not  one  but  several  varieties.  The 
latter  are  .the  result  of  accidental  conditions  existing 
throughout  long  or  short  eras  of  time,  and  this,  in 
brief,  is  Darwin's  idea  of  how  the  diversities  of  life 
have  been  produced. 

It  will  at  once  occur  to  the  reader  that  the  condi- 
tions that  might  create  a  variation  are  almost  endless. 


Darwinism.  1 8 1 


Heat,  cold,  food  supply,  geographical  distribution, 
winds,  water  supply,  prevalence  of  certain  birds  or 
other  animals, — all  these  are  the  factors  which  must 
be  taken  into  consideration  when  studying  this 
problem  and  in  trying  to  trace  out  definite  results. 

Huxley,  in  defining  Darwin's  hypothesis,  says: 
"  As  I  apprehend  it,  it  is  that  all  the  phenomena  of 
organic  nature,  past  and  present,  result  from,  or  are 
caused  by,  the  interaction  of  those  properties  of 
organic  matter,  which  we  have  called  Atavism  and 
Variability,  with  the  Conditions  of  Existence  ;  or,  in 
other  words — given  the  existence  of  organic  matter, 
its  tendency  to  transmit  its  properties,  and  its  ten- 
dency occasionally  to  vary  ;  and,  lastly,  given  the 
conditions  of  existence ;  by  which  organic  matter 
is  surrounded — that  these  put  together  are  the 
causes  of  the  Present  and  of  the  Past  conditions  of 
Organic  Nature." 

Darwin  himself  says  :  "  No  one  ought  to  feel  sur- 
prise at  much  remaining  as  yet  unexplained  in  regard 
to  the  origin  of  species  and  varieties,  if  he  makes  due 
allowance  for  our  profound  ignorance  in  regard  to 
the  mutual  relations  of  all  the  beings  which  live 
around  us.  Who  can  explain  why  one  species  ranges 
widely  and  is  very  numerous,  and  why  another  allied 
species  has  a  narrow  range  and  is  rare  ?  Yet  these 
relations  are  of  the  highest  importance,  for  they 
determine  the  present  welfare,  and,  as  I  believe,  the 
future  success  and  modification  of  every  inhabitant 
of  this  world.  Still  less  do  we  know  of  the  mutual 
relations  of  the  innumerable  inhabitants  of  the  world 
during  the  many  past  geological  epochs  in  its  his- 


Charles  Darwin. 


tory.  Although  much  remains  obscure,  I  can  enter- 
tain no  doubt,  after  the  most  deliberate  study  and 
dispassionate  judgment  of  which  I  am  capable,  that 
the  view  which  most  naturalists  entertain,  and  which 
I  formerly  entertained  —  namely,  that  each  species 
has  been  independently  created  —  is  erroneous.  I 
am  fully  convinced  that  species  are  not  immutable  ; 
but  that  those  belonging  to  what  are  called  the  same 
genera  are  lineal  descendants  of  some  other  and  gen- 
erally extinct  species,  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
acknowledged  varieties  of  any  one  species  are  the 
descendants  of  that  species.  Furthermore,  I  am 
convinced  that  natural  selection  has  been  the  main 
but  not  exclusive  means  of  modification." 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  the  various  forms  of  na- 
ture, animal  or  vegetable,  are  continually  changing, 
affected  by  the  conditions  or  circumstances  which 
surround  them,  and  that  evolution  is  the  term  ap- 
plied to  the  change. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

DARWINISM    CONTINUED. 

How  Change  is   Produced — Vast   Eras  of  Time — The   Age  of  the 

Earth — Evidences  of  Evolution — Extinct  Animals. 

N"  the  previous  chapter  we 
have  seen  that  Darwin 
claims  that  in  nature  there 
is  a  tendency  to  varia- 
bility, certain  conditions 
producing  it,  and  that  all 
the  diverse  forms  of  ani- 
mal life  are  to-day  the 
result  of  this  process. 
Without  an  adequate  idea 
of  geological  time  this 
cannot  be  realized ;  but 
if  we  imagine  that  these  changes  have  gradually  been 
going  on  for  unknown  ages,  periods  which  the  mind 
of  man  cannot  grasp,  we  begin  to  see  the  light  ahead 
that  Darwin  saw. 

In  the  present  age  geology  and  palaeontology,  or 
the  history  of  extinct  animals,  through  the  investiga- 
tions of  Professors  Cope,  Marsh,  Leidy  in  this  country, 
183 


Charles  Darwin. 


and  others  in  Germany  and  England,  have  become 
remarkably  well  understood.  Though  there  is  still  a 
vast  area  unexplored,  we  know  enough  of  the  ancient 
earth  and  its  history  to  enable  us  to  view  it  compre- 
hensively. If  we  could  make  a  section  of  the  crust 
we  should  find  the  rocks  arranged  layer  by  layer. 
At  a  certain  depth  would  be  what  is  known  as  the 
Eozoic  rocks,  which  if  they  have  contained  life  do 
not  show  evidences  of  it.  Above  this  we  find  a 
layer  containing  shells  and  low  forms,  and  so  on  up, 
layer  after  layer,  for  thirteen  thousand  feet  in  New 
York  State,  or  nearly  two  miles  of  solid  rock,  nearly 
all  the  strata  being  characterised  by  peculiar  forms 
of  life.  If  we  examine  these,  one  after  another,  up 
through  the  crust,  we  notice  that  there  appears  to 
be  an  elaboration  of  structure  the  higher  up  we 
proceed.  Thus  in  the  Devonian,  or  just  below  it, 
we  first  find  back-boned  animals  —  fishes  ;  then  in  a 
succeeding  age  reptiles  ;  then  milk-giving  animals, 
and  finally  man.  In  other  words,  there  has  been  an 
apparent  evolutionary  movement  here,  so  that  view- 
ing the  results  we  can  easily  imagine  that  one  who 
had  studied  the  rocks  as  did  Darwin  might  arrive  at 
the  conclusion  that  he  was  looking  at  the  different 
steps  in  the  evolution  of  life. 

How  long  was  the  thirteen  thousand  feet  in  New 
York  forming  ?  The  mind  fails  to  grasp  the  figures, 
nor  can  we  realise  it  without  taking  up  instances  that 
are  well  defined  and  familiar.  In  one  of  the  West- 
ern States  there  is  an  elevation,  known  as  Amethyst 
Mountain,  a  mile  or  more  high.  One  side  has  been 
worn  away  by  the  elements,  so  that  it  appears  to 


Growth  of  Forests.  185 

have  been  cut  down  as  with  a  knife,  leaving  a  more 
or  less  sheer  precipice.  On  the  face  of  this  can  be 
counted  twenty  or  thirty  distinct  forest  levels.  Thus 
at  the  base  a  forest  is  visible  of  trees  standing  up- 
right ;  the  trunks  of  large  size  but  broken  off  about 
ten  feet  from  the  ground  and  completely  silicified  or 
turned  into  stone.  The  roots,  like  stone  snakes,  can 
be  readily  traced,  while  the  trees  and  sections  of 
trunks  are  so  true  to  life  that  they  might  have  been 
buried  but  yesterday.  On  top  of  these  trees  is  seen 
a  stratum  of  rock,  which  has  given  growth  to  another 
forest,  which  attained  maturity  and  died  down  to 
form  the  birthplace  of  still  another.  So  one  after 
another  these  forests  are  piled  up  to  the  height  of  a 
mile.  The  reader  is  familiar  with  the  time  entailed 
in  the  growth  of  a  forest  of  to-day,  from  saplings  to 
trees  of  the  largest  size,  hence  can  form  some  idea  of 
the  time  which  must  have  elapsed  while  these  forests 
were  dying  and  growing  one  upon  another. 

Those  who  have  visited  England  and  are  familiar 
with  the  chalk  cliffs  of  Dover  have  interesting  testi- 
mony of  the  duration  of  time.  This  vast  deposit  is 
simply  an  ancient  ocean  bottom  almost  exactly  iden- 
tical with  that  being  formed  in  the  Atlantic  to-day. 
By  some  convulsion  of  nature  it  has  been  elevated, 
and  stands  as  a  monument  to  the  vast  results  attained 
in  nature  by  the  agency  of  minute  organisms  through 
long  eras  of  time. 

When  the  Atlantic  cable  was  taken  up  for  repair, 
it  was  found  covered  with  a  mud  almost  entirely 
made  up  of  minute  shells  of  rhizopods ;  and  later 
investigations  into  the  ocean  bottom  showed  that 


Tg6  Charles  Darwin. 

everywhere,  at  a  depth  not  greater  than  fifteen  hun- 
dred fathoms,  it  was  composed  of  these  organisms. 
They  filled  the  water,  floating  about,  and  in  such 
numbers  that  it  has  been  estimated  that  if  they  are 
as  numerous,  down  to  a  depth  of  six  hundred  feet, 
as  they  are  near  the  surface,  there  would  be  more 
than  sixteen  tons  of  calcareous  shells  or  carbonate 
of  lime  in  the  uppermost  one  hundred  fathoms  of 
every  square  mile. 

These  little  creatures  are  continually  dying,  and 
the  result  is  that  a  constant  shower  of  their  shells  is 
dropping  upon  the  bed  of  the  ocean,  and  slowly 
tending  to  fill  it  up  ;  how  slowly  can  be  understood 
from  the  minuteness  of  the  animals.  Yet  we  know 
that  the  enormous  deposits  of  chalk,  represented  by 
the  Dover  cliffs,  were  formed  by  this  silent  rain. 

The  pyramids  of  Egypt  are  deposits  of  a  small 
shell — nummulite ;  their  accumulations  on  some 
ancient  sea-bed  forming  the  stone  which  was  cut 
and  piled  up  by  the  ingenuity  of  man.  We  wonder 
at  these  monuments,  but  how  much  more  wonderful 
is  the  age  they  represent  in  the  history  of  nature. 

In  England  the  Paleozoic  strata  is  57,154  feet  in 
depth;  the  Secondary  strata  13,190  feet;  and  the 
Tertiary  strata  2,240,  according  to  Professor  Ramsey ; 
in  all,  72,584,  or  about  thirteen  miles  of  rock  which 
has  been  piled  up  by  animal  deposits  inch  by  inch. 

Those  who  are  careful  observers,  and  who  return 
to  localities  after  an  absence  of  many  years,  rarely 
notice  any  difference  in  a  landscape.  America  has 
been  inhabited  by  the  white  race  for  six  hundred 
years,  yet  there  has  been  little  or  no  change  in  the 


Missing  Links.  187 


appearance  of  the  country.  In  England  records 
show  for  centuries  the  measurements  and  limitations 
of  estates  upon  which  old  oaks  have  been  growing. 
The  land  looks  the  same  ;  there  is  no  apparent 
change  ;  so  that  we  may  assume  that  the  change  of 
a  thousand  years  would  be  scarcely  noticeable,  while 
in  the  matter  of  wear  and  tear  a  cliff  five  hundred 
feet  in  height  would  suffer  a  denudation  of  perhaps 
one  inch  per  century  for  its  whole  length.  Darwin 
estimates  that  the  denudation  of  the  wold  in  Great 
Britain  must  have  required  306,662,400  years,  or  say 
three  hundred  million  years.  A  million,  then,  is  but 
a  drop  in  the  bucket  in  the  time  since  life  began,  and 
when  endeavouring  to  imagine  species  as  the  result 
of  Darwin's  explanation,  we  must  remember  that 
periods  beyond  our  power  of  appreciation  are  neces- 
sary to  the  result,  and  are  an  essential  factor  in 
evolution. 

Having  looked  so  far  into  Darwinism,  having  seen 
that  the  great  naturalist  outlines  a  theory  and  fully 
defines  its  scope,  the  question  naturally  arises, 
"  Are  there  no  proofs,  no  evidences  to  substantiate 
the  belief?"  And  to  this  might  be  said,  that  the 
majority  of  leading  biologists  of  to-day  accept  the 
Darwin  hypothesis.  The  modern  palaeontologists 
have  added  to  the  information  he  accumulated, 
and  many  interesting  evidences  have  been  presented 
which  are  popularly  called  "  missing  links."  Darwin 
says :  "  I  am  fully  convinced  that  species  are  not 
immutable,  but  that  those  belonging  to  what  are 
called  the  same  genera  are  lineal  descendants  of 
some  other  and  generally  extinct  species." 


T88  Charles  Darwin. 

This  leads  us  to  an  examination  of  some  of  these 
extinct  species  which  have  been  brought  to  the 
attention  of  science,  and  which  we  may  consider  the 
stepping-stones  from  the  forms  of  to-day  to  an 
ancestor  in  the  remote  past.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  examples  is  that  of  the  horse.  When 
white  men  first  came  to  this  country,  the  horse  was 
not  found  here  ;  indeed,  there  appeared  to  be  no 
tradition  of  such  an  animal,  and  the  Spaniard  relied 
almost  as  much  upon  the  terror  these  animals 
created  in  the  land  of  the  Incas,  as  they  did  upon 
their  arms,  the  natives  believing  that  horse  and  rider 
were  one.  Some  of  the  horses  of  these  adventurers 
and  others  escaped,  and  from  them  descended  what 
are  known  as  the  wild  horses  of  North  and  South 
America. 

That  horses  were  not  found  here  by  the  white 
discoverers  is  to  some  extent  singular,  as  it  is  now 
well  known  that  these  animals  existed  here  in  great 
numbers  in  the  Quaternary  and  Tertiary  times  of 
geology ;  some  climatic  or  other  change  producing 
their  complete  extirpation.  Some  idea  of  the 
extent  of  the  distribution  of  horses  in  these  early 
days  can  be  realised  when  it  is  known  that  twelve 
species  have  been  discovered  in  the  Quaternary 
deposits,  and  more  than  thirty  in  the  Tertiary  ;  so 
that  scientists  have  a  remarkably  complete  chain  of 
evolutionary  evidence  in  their  remains.  The  small- 
est of  these,  the  Hipparion  of  the  Eocene,  was 
about  as  large  as  a  fox.  It  had  large  canine  teeth, 
three  toes  upon  its  hind  feet,  and  four  perfect  toes 
and  a  splint  on  the  forefeet.  In  this  horse  the  head 


Extinct  Species.  189 


and  neck  were  elongated,  and  the  place  for  the  bit 
or  diastema  was  well  defined,  and  develops  materi- 
ally as  we  follow  the  line  down.  Compare  this  form 
with  the  horse  of  the  Lower  Miocene  (the  Mesohip- 
pus),  and  we  find  that  the  latter  was  larger,  being 
now  about  the  size  of  a  sheep.  It  has  three  toes 
behind  and  in  front,  while  the  fourth  toe,  which  we 
saw  in  the  previous  form,  is  reduced  to  a  mere 
splint.  Following  it,  in  the  Miocene  proper,  was  the 
Miohippus,  in  which  the  toes  are  about  the  same, 
though  the  fourth  one,  or  splint,  is  hardly  dis- 
tinguishable. Now,  the  animals,  though  small,  had 
well-defined  horse-like  shapes.  Passing  to  the  next 
form  in  the  Lower  Pliocene,  we  find  a  skeleton 
about  as  large  as  that  of  the  present  donkey. 
The  splint  has  entirely  disappeared,  and  there  are 
three  toes,  the  two  outer  ones  being  short,  there 
being  very  evident  disposition  to  rely  upon  the 
middle  one,  which  was  larger  and  stouter  than  in 
previous  forms.  Moving  upward  to  the  Pliocene,  we 
come  to  a  horse  which  scientists  call  Pliohippus,  and 
which  was  very  similar  to  the  horse  of  to-day.  The 
middle  toe  was  now  the  hoof,  while  the  other  toes 
were  useless  splints.  Another  step  brings  us  to  the 
Quaternary  and  present  horse,  in  which  the  middle 
toe  has  become  the  hoof,  upon  which  the  genus 
Equus  stands,  while  the  two  toes  are  still  represented 
by  the  disappearing  side  splints. 

The  striking  nature  of  this  evidence  is  shown  in 
the  accompanying  diagram. 

In  referring  to  these  animals  Professor  Marsh 
says:  "The  most  marked  changes  undergone  by 


Charles  Darwin. 


these  successive  genera  are  the  following:  ist,  in- 
crease in  size,  from  Orohippus,  as  large  as  a  fox,  to 
the  modern  horse  ;  2d,  increase  in  speed  through 
concentration  of  the  limb-bones  ;  3d,  elongation  of 
the  head  and  neck  and  modification  of  the  skull. 
The  increase  of  speed  was  a  direct  result  of  a  gradual 
and  striking  modification  of  the  limbs.  These  were 
slowly  concentrated  by  the  reduction  of  their  lateral 
elements  and  enlargement  of  the  axial  one,  until  the 
force  exerted  by  each  limb  came  to  act  directly 
through  its  axis  in  the  line  of  motion.  This  concen- 
tration is  well  shown  in  the  fore-limb.  There  was, 
ist,  a  change  in  the  scapula  and  humerus,  especially 
in  the  latter,  which  facilitated  motion  in  one  plane 
only  ;  2d.  an  expansion  of  the  radius  and  reduction 
of  the  ulna,  until  the  former  alone  remained  entire 
and  effective  ;  3d,  a  shortening  of  all  the  carpal 
bones  and  enlargement  of  the  median  ones,  ensuring 
a  firm  wrist  ;  4th,  an  increase  in  size  of  the  third 
digit  at  the  expense  of  those  on  each  side,  until  the 
former  alone  supported  the  limb.  The  latter  change 
is  clearly  seen  in  the  accompanying  diagram,  which 
represents  the  forefeet  of  four  typical  genera  in  the 
equine  series,  taken  in  succession  from  each  of  the 
geological  periods  in  which  this  group  of  mammals 
is  known  to  have  lived.  The  line  of  descent  ap- 
pears to  have  been  direct,  and  the  remains  now 
known  supply  every  important  intermediate  form. 
Considering  the  remarkable  development  of  the  group 
throughout  the  entire  Tertiary  period,  and  its  exist- 
ence even  later,  it  seems  very  strange  that  none  of 
the  species  should  have  survived,  and  that  we  are 
indebted  for  our  present  horse  to  the  Old  World." 


Connecting  Links. 


These  changes  were  produced  only  after  successive 
ages  representing  vast  eras  of  time. 

From  this  brief  review  it  will  be  seen  that  Darwin, 
ism  assumes  that  the  side  splints  so  familiar  in  the 
horse  of  to-day  indicate  an  ancestry  in  which  the 
splints  were  more  fully  developed.  In  other  words, 
the  splints  are  the  remains  of  organs  which  in  the 
course  of  the  development  of  the  animal  have  dis- 
appeared. 

Adopting  this  line  of  argument  Darwin  would 
point  to  the  teeth  in  the  embryo  of  the  whalebone 
whale,  which  do  not  appear  as  the  animal  grows,  as 
evidence  that  the  giant  animal  in  the  remote  past 
possessed  teeth,  so  the  rudimentary  pelvis,  hip-bone, 
thigh,  and  leg  bones  suggest  that  at  one  time  this 
huge  creature  possessed  hind  legs.  In  the  Greenland 
whale  especially,  the  hip-  and  knee-joint,  with  some 
of  their  muscles,  are  well  denned  beneath  the  skin, 
so  that  we  can  imagine  that  at  one  time  in  the 
remote  past  the  whale  was  a  shore-loving  creature, 
which  finally  became  more  aquatic  in  its  habits,  and 
the  hind  legs,  like  the  many  toes  of  the  horse,  disap- 
peared. 

Among  the  early  birds  of  this  country  the  wonder- 
ful OdontornitheS)  or  birds  with  teeth,  discovered  by 
Professor  Marsh,  we  have  examples  of  connecting 
links  striking  in  the  extreme,  and  pointing  to  an 
ancestry  so  remote  that  the  imagination  almost  fails 
to  grasp  the  reality,  and  the  mind  is  bewildered  by 
the  testimony  that  shows  conclusively  that  by  fol- 
lowing back  the  history  of  our  feathered  friends  we 
should  be  led  imperceptibly  but  surely  into  the 
domain  of  the  reptiles. 


Charles  Darwin. 


One  of  the  most  interesting  events  of  the  scientific 
world  of  America  in  the  past  twenty  years  was  the 
announcement  by  Professor  Marsh  that  he  had  dis- 
covered in  the  ancient  sea-bed  or  shore  of  the  West 
the  remains  of  birds  which  possessed  reptilian  teeth 
and  were  evidently  descendants  of  reptiles.  This 
announcement  was  received  with  incredulity  by  the 
scientists  of  Europe  ;  but  their  doubts  were  silenced 
when  the  remains  of  not  one  but  scores  of  specimens 
were  deposited  in  the  Yale  museum  at  New  Haven, 
showing  fully  the  remarkable  nature  of  the  discovery. 
Professor  Marsh  states  that  the  remains  found  by 
him  represent  birds  which  had  remarkable  reptilian 
affinities  and  were  undoubtedly  descended  from 
some  remote  reptilian  ancestor. 

The  most  striking  form  discovered  was  the  one 
called  by  him  Hesperornis  regalis.  It  represented  a 
bird  about  six  feet  in  length,  resembling  to  some 
extent  the  loon  of  to-day.  It  was  an  aquatic  bird, 
but  flightless,  being  without  a  vestige  of  wings.  Its 
neck  was  long,  its  feet  extremely  large,  and  its 
pointed  bill,  armed  with  sharp  recurved  teeth,  ad- 
mirably adapted  for  securing  and  holding  prey.  The 
size  of  the  latter  was  not  material,  as  the  lower  jaw 
was  united  in  front  by  a  cartilage,  as  in  the  snakes, 
giving  them  the  power  of  .swallowing  a  fish  of  large 
size.  .That  a  bird  should  be  provided  with  teeth  is 
extraordinary-  but  in  this  case  they  were  almost 
identical  with  those  of  reptiles. 

1  0  referring  to  this  bird  Professor  Marsh  says: 
"Having  thus  shown  what  .the  skeleton  of  Hesperor- 
nis is,  and  what  its  mode  of  life  must  have  been,  it 


Remarkable  Birds. 


remains  to  consider  the  more  important  question  of 
how  the  peculiar  combination  of  general  and  spe- 
cialised characters  manifested  in  its  structure  origi- 
nated. The  two  most  striking  features  of  Hesperornh 
are  the  teeth  and  the  limbs,  and  an  inquiry  in  regard 
to  them  first  suggests  itself.  The  teeth  of  Hes- 
perornis  may  be  regarded  as  a  character  inherited 
from  a  reptilian  ancestry.  Their  strong  resemblance 
to  the  teeth  of  reptiles,  in  form,  structure,  and 
succession,  is  evidence  of  this,  and  their  method  of 
implantation,  in  a  common  alveolar  groove  (Holco- 
dont),  conforms  strictly  to  what  we  have  in  one 
well-known  group  of  reptiles,  exemplified  by  Ichthy- 
osaurus.  This  method  of  insertion  in  the  jaw  is  a 
primitive  dental  character,  quite  different  from  what 
we  should  naturally  expect  as  an  accompaniment  of 
the  modern  style  of  vertebra,  and  is  a  much  lower 
grade  than  the  implantation  of  the  teeth  in  distinct 
sockets  (Thecodont),  a  feature  characteristic  of  an- 
other group  of  Odontothores,  of  which  Iclithyornis 
is  the  type.  These  teeth  indicate  unmistakably  that 
Hesperornis  was  carnivorous  in  habit,  and  doubtless 
was  descended  from  a  long  line  of  rapacious  ances- 
tors." 

Equally  remarkable  was  the  Archaopteryx  —  a  bird 
discovered  in  Germany.  Here  it  is  supposed  was  a 
bird  but  partly  feathered,  representing  the  time 
when  feathers  were  developing.  Its  beaks  were 
armed  with  teeth,  while  its  tail  was  an  elongation  of 
the  vertebrae,  like  the  tail  of  a  cat,  from  the  sides  of 
which  grew  feathers,  so  that  when  the  reptilian  bird 
flew,  its  tail  constituted  a  rudder  or  guide.  These 
13 


Charles  Darwin. 


singular  creatures,  with  the  gigantic  Pteranodons 
were  links  in  the  wondrous  chain  of  early  life  —  evi- 
dences of  a  remarkable  ancestry.  A  volume  could 
be  filled  in  describing  the  many  recent  discoveries 
which  naturalists  of  to-day  consider  as  evidences  of 
the  correctness  of  the  deductions  of  Darwin.  To 
him  the  story  of  nature  was  plain  and  simple  ;  the 
Giver  of  all  things  created  life  ;  this,  acted  upon  by 
the  natural  conditions  of  its  environment,  produced 
the  varieties,  which,  in  turn,  in  the  long  eras  of  time, 
became  species  ;  from  these  genera  were  evolved  ; 
and  so  the  change  went  on,  populating  the  world. 

The  story  of  this  evolution  is  told  in  the  "  Origin 
of  Species,"  "  The  Descent  of  Man,"  and  other  works 
of  the  great  naturalist,  which  mark  epochs  in  the 
history  of  scientific  thought. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE   DARWIN   MEMORIAL. 

Addresses  by  American  Scientists  :  Dr.  Theodore  Gill — W.  H.  Dall 
—Major  John  \V.  Powell — Richard  Rathbun— Charles  V.  Riley 
—Lester  F.  Ward— Frank  Baker— Frederick  W.  True. 

HE  death  of  Charles  Dar- 
win, which  occurred  in 
April,  1882,  created  a 
world-wide  sensation,  and 
in  every  scientific  society 
in  the  world  resolutions 
of  respect  were  passed 
to  his  memory,  many  of 
which  have  been  collect- 
ed, making  in  themselves 
a  large,  even  ponderous, 
volume. 

The  American  societies  were  unanimous  in  their 
appreciation  of  his  greatness,  and  the  memorial  of 
the  Biological  Society  of  Washington  was  particu- 
larly interesting!  The  announcement  of  the  death 
of  the  distinguished  scientist  was  officially  made  to 
the  society  at  its  meeting  of  April  28,  1882,  at  which 


Charles  Darwin. 


it  was  voted  that  the  next  meeting  of  the  society 
should  be  a  Darwin  memorial.  The  following  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  carry  it  out  ;  Messrs.  Goode, 
Riley,  Ward,  Rathbun,  and  Gill.  The  result  of  their 
action  appears  in  the  memorial  of  the  society,  which 
consists  of  a  series  of  papers,  read  by  distinguished 
leaders  of  scientific  thought  in  America,  on  the 
various  branches  of  science  with  which  Darwin  was 
identified. 

These  papers  give  the  most  comprehensive  view 
of  Darwin's  scientific  attainments  from  a  purely 
American  standpoint,  ever  published. 

The  meeting  of  the  Biological  Society  was  called 
for  the  1  2th  of  May,  a  little  over  a  month  after  the 
death  of  the  great  naturalist,  and  in  the  presence  of 
a  large  and  distinguished  audience,  among  which 
were  representatives  of  many  of  the  leading  scientific 
societies  of  the  day,  the  following  papers  which  will 
always  remain  permanent  additions  to  Darwinian 
literature,  were  read  : 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  DARWIN. 

BY  THEODORE  GILL,  A.M.,  M.D.,  PH.D..M.N.A.S., 

Smithsonian  Institution. 

The  chief  for  many  years  of  the  leaders  in  science 
knows  no  longer  the  world  he  erstwhile  knew  so 
well.  Charles  Darwin  has  closed  a  life  illustrious  in 
the  annals  of  biology,  scarce  full  of  years  but  very 
full  of  honours. 

How  fruitful  was  that  life  and  how  potent  its 
influence  on  philosophy  and  on  sociology  the  united 


Natural  Selection.  197 

voice  of  the  civilised  world  proclaims — how  grievous 
the  loss  the  lamentations  of  mankind  testify.  Less 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  elapsed  since  the 
publication  of  "  The  Origin  of  Species  by  Means  of 
Natural  Selection."  How  great  is  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  beliefs  and  practice  of  naturalists  before 
its  appearance  and  those  of  their  present  successors ! 
He  would,  indeed,  have  been  a  bold  man  who  would 
have  predicted  that,  in  two  decades  after  its  appear- 
ance, the  views  therein  promulgated  would  be  uni- 
versally accepted  and  be  taken  as  the  recognised 
platform  of  biologists.  But  the  incredible  has  actually 
happened :  all  the  students  of  nature,  and  in  every 
land  ;  zoologists  and  botanists,  palaeontologists  and 
geologists  ;  in  America  and  Europe,  at  the  confines 
of  Asia,  the  extreme  of  Africa,  and  in  distant  Aus- 
tralia,— all  meet  on  common  ground  as  evolutionists  ; 
all  recognise  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  the  operation 
of  natural  selection  in  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  To 
appreciate  the  cause  of  the  profound  impression 
produced  by  the  deceased  naturalist's  greatest  work, 
some  reference  to  the  antecedent  and  succeeding 
conditions  is  fitting. 

It  had  been,  from  time  immemorial,  a  generally 
accepted  idea  that  the  living  beings  which  people  the 
globe  had,  in  some  mysterious  manner,  been  each 
"  created  "  separately ;  but  how,  few  ventured  to 
express  in  words,  for  the  mere  attempt  to  do  so  con- 
jured up  such  strange  fancies  that  the  intelligent 
mind  drew  back  in  revolt  and  refused  to  consider 
them.  Now,  it  is  a  recognised  scientific  creed  that 
the  animals  and  plants  which  have  successively  in- 


I98  Charles  Darwin. 

habited  the  earth  were  the  descendants,  with  modi- 
fication, from  previous  inhabitants  since  the  dawn  of 
life.  A  glimmer  of  the  truth  had  now  and  then 
occurred  to  contemplative  students.  Philosophers 
had  ventured  to  think  that  living  forms  like  ancient 
ones  might  have  descended  from  them.  The  inves- 
tigators in  various  departments  of  biology  had 
gradually  deduced  generalisations  which  all  tended 
in  a  similar  direction.  The  taxologists,  in  their  very 
nomenclature,  compared  the  animal  kingdom  to  a 
tree  of  which  the  principal  types  were  "  branches  " 
diverging  from  a  common  trunk,  while  the  minor 
groups  were  successive  offshoots ;  and  the  idea  of 
genetic  relationship  suggested  by  the  various  degrees 
of  likeness  was  expressed  in  the  names  conferred  on 
other  groups — "  tribe,"  "  family,"  etc.  The  embry^ 
ologists  had  recognised  a  coincidence  between  the 
stages  of  development  of  the  "superior"  animals 
and  the  adults  of  animals  inferior  in  the  system. 
The  palaeontologists  had  discovered  an  approximate 
coincidence  between  the  successive  inhabitants  of 
the  earth  and  the  successive  stages  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  living  animals  of  the  same  types.  The 
series  of  facts  thus  obtained  had  even,  to  some 
extent,  been  co-ordinated. 

All  these  series  of  facts  were  such  as  would  have 
been  the  result  of  the  derivation  of  existing  types 
from  previous  ones.  But  the  possibility  that  the 
seeming  was  the  real  did  not  commend  itself  to  the 
consideration  of  naturalists.  Instead  thereof,  it  was 
assumed  that  the  facts  were  "  in  accordance  with  a 
plan  of  the  Creator  "  ;  that  the  Deity  had  conceived 


A  Puerile  Conception.  199 

a  few  patterns,  and  that  by  those  he  constructed  the 
animals  which  successively  appeared  on  the  globe,  to 
be  in  time  swept  off  and  replaced  by  others.  If 
answer  was  made  that  such  was  a  puerile  conception 
of  creation  and  that  it  limited  the  power  of  Deity,  ex- 
cessive anger  was  displayed,  and  its  opponents  called 
infidels  and  atheists.  But  even  those  who  doubted 
whether  the  accepted  views  of  creation  were  tenable, 
hesitated  to  take  the  alternative  view.  An  efficient 
factor  in  variation  remained  to  be  discovered,  and  a 
full  presentation  of  the  data  had  yet  to  be  made. 

It  was  in  1859  ^na^  ^ne  desiderata  indicated  were 
supplied  in  "  The  Origin  of  Species  by  Means  of 
Natural  Selection."  "  Variation  under  domestica- 
tion "  was  compared  and  contrasted  with  "  variation 
under  nature."  The  "  struggle  for  existence  "  which 
is  the  result  of  the  progressive  increase  of  living 
beings  was  considered,  and  "  natural  selection " 
was  designated  as  the  factor  which  determined  the 
development  and  existence  as  "  species "  of  forms 
which  had  descended,  with  modifications,  from  count- 
less antecedent  generations.  With  the  successive 
changes  in  temperature  and  other  conditions  ensuing 
in  the  ever-changing  world,  the  animals  and  plants 
which  peopled  it  were  compelled  to  keep  pace  by 
corresponding  changes  in  structure,  or  to  give  place 
to  others  who  could  adapt  themselves  to  the  new 
conditions. 

So  much  were  the  views  thus  enunciated  opposed 
to  the  current  ideas  that  a  brief  period  of  astonished 
silence  ensued,  and  men  felt  about  before  they  could 
realise  their  full  purport,  or  that  such  opinions  were 


200  Charges  Darwin. 

broached  in  sober  earnest.  Then  followed  on  every 
hand  torrents  of  detraction  and  abuse.  The  natural- 
ists of  the  old  school  and  the  priests  of  revelation 
met  on  common  ground,  and  loud  and  bitter  was 
the  denunciation.  Numerous  were  the  arguments 
against  the  new  theory. 

But  why  this  great  turmoil  and  uproar  ?  Darwin 
was  not  the  first  to  believe  that  species  had  been 
derived  and  not  created.  So  had  philosophers  be- 
lieved before ;  the  grandfather  of  Darwin  believed 
and  urged  the  belief ;  a  great  naturalist  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  century — Lamarck — boldly  and 
wisely  formulated  a  theory  of  evolution  ;  the  "  Ves- 
tiges of  Creation "  took  up  the  view,  and  gained 
marked  attention  in  Britain.  Even  a  clergyman  of 
the  English  Church,  the  Savilian  professor  in  ortho- 
dox Oxford,  the  Rev.  Baden  Powell,  in  1855,  had 
considered  the  "  Philosophy  of  Creation  "  in  a  "  mas- 
terly manner,"  and  Darwin  bore  testimony  that  noth- 
ing can  be  more  striking  than  the  manner  in  which 
the  enlightened  priest  showed  that  the  introduction 
of  new  species  is  a  regular  phenomenon  in  con- 
tradistinction to  a  miraculous  process.  Darwin  was 
not  the  first  even  to  conceive  of  the  principle  of  natu- 
ral selection.  An  American  resident  in  England,  Dr. 
W.  C.  Wells,  as  early  as  1813,  had  recognised  the 
operation  of  the  principle  in  the  distribution  of  the 
human  race.  In  1831,  Patrick  Matthew  also  appre- 
ciated the  principle  of  natural  selection  ;  so  Darwin 
himself  witnesses. 

It  was  not,  then,  the  mere  enunciation  of  the 
theory  of  evolution,  nor  of  the  principle  of  natural 


Want  of  Evidence.  201 

selection,  that  characterised  the  "  Origin  of  Species," 
and  drew  the  attention  of  mankind  to  it.  It  was 
the  recognition  of  the  incessant  and  universal  opera- 
tion of  the  factors,  the  masterly  co-ordination  of  the 
facts  of  biology — zoology,  botany,  anatomy,  general 
morphology,  physiology,  embryology,  palaeontology 
— and  geology,  the  marshalling  in  orderly  array  and 
concentration  in  one  direction  of  all  natural  knowl- 
edge, the  force  of  the  logic,  the  clearness  of  the 
exposition,  the  judicial  candour  of  the  argument, 
that  arrested  men's  attention,  and  provoked  serious 
consideration  of  what  before  had  been  ignored  as 
being  beyond  the  domain  or  possibilities  of  investi- 
gation. In  the  time  of  Lamarck  the  world  was  not 
ready  for  a  consideration  of  the  question.  Lamarck's 
was  the  prophecy  of  intuitive  genius — genius  the 
greater  in  that  the  facts  that  had  been  garnered 
were  few.  The  "  Vestiges  of  Creation  "  was  so  re- 
plete with  errors  of  fact  and  misconceptions  as  to 
attract  more  attention  to  the  fault  of  its  details  that 
to  the  logic  of  its  argument.  The  principle  of  natu- 
ral selection  had  been  applied  to  very  special  fields 
by  Wells  and  Matthews ;  no  evidence  had  been  fur- 
nished of  its  wide  extension,  and  it  even  occupied  a 
subordinate  position  in  the  thoughts  of  those  investi- 
gators. 

The  author  of  the  "  Origin  of  Species  "  was  a  dif- 
ferent man  from  his  predecessors,  and  lived  in  a  hap- 
pier time.  The  facts  had  been  accumulated  and  co- 
ordinated ;  men  were  ready  to  consider  the  reason 
why  facts  were  such,  and  none  was  better  fitted  than 
Darwin — I  should  rather  say  none  was  so  well  fitted 


202  Charles  Darwin. 

—to  arrange  and  present  the  facts  and  to  draw  the 
deductions  therefrom.  Ever  a  close  observer,  prac- 
tised in  many  lands,  student  of  all  nature — especially 
skilled  as  a  geologist,  a  botanist,  and  a  zoologist — 
endowed  with  a  severely  judicial  mind,  honest  above 
all,  none  like  him  had  ever  grappled  with  the  mys- 
tery of  creation.  For  more  than  twenty  years  he 
had  pondered  on  the  subject ;  with  impartial  severity 
he  had  weighed  the  evidence.  He  was,  perforce, 
led  to  the  conclusion  that  all  the  living  had  been 
derived  from  past  forms,  with  modifications  incident 
to  individuality  ;  the  sums  of  the  divergences,  small 
in  themselves,  became  large  in  the  aggregate,  be- 
came enormous  in  time.  The  increasing  beings, 
crowding  upon  each  other,  invading  each  other's 
domains,  struggled  for  the  life  into  which  they  were 
born.  Happy  were  those  possessing  some  slight 
advantage — strength,  swiftness,  dexterity,  or  adapt- 
ability resulting  from  modification  of  structure — 
for  they  could  procure  place  or  food  at  the  expense 
of  their  competitors,  and  the  characters  that  gave 
them  victory  secured,  likewise,  the  temporary  as- 
cendancy of  their  kind.  How  great  is  this  variability 
our  domesticated  animals  attest ;  how  ancient  is  our 
globe  geology  teaches  ;  that  the  race  is  to  the  strong 
or  the  cunning  observation  of  inferior  nature  as- 
sures. With  known  variability,  time,  and  space, 
what  could  not  result  ?  Which,  then,  was  the  more 
probable,  that  Nature — or,  if  you  will,  the  Creator 
— had  always  operated  under  law,  or  that  there  had 
been  constant  interference  ? 

Thus  were  the  issues  fairly  joined.     On  the  one 


Evolution. 


hand,  Creation  was  the  rallying  cry  ;  on  the  other, 
Evolution  and  Darwin.  But  what  meant  the  opposed 
terms  ?  It  is  surely  but  reasonable  to  ask  the  ques- 
tion. The  evolutionists  conceded  the  reasonable- 
ness, and  gladly  accepted  the  ordeal.  Could  less  be 
required  of  the  creationists  ?  In  reverential  mood 
would  I  submit  the  alternatives.  If  they  repel, 
blame  not  me.  I  have  long  and  fruitlessly  searched 
for  better. 

Creation  implies  the  actual  fashioning  of  forms  in 
full  panoply,  and  with  all  the  characteristics  of  their 
kind.  But  when  it  was  asked  how  this  had  been 
effected  the  answer  was  vague  and  evasive.  Did 
"  elemental  atoms  flash  into  living  tissues  ?  "  Was 
there  vacant  space  one  moment  and  an  elephant  ap- 
parent the  next  ?  Or  did  a  laborious  God  mould  out 
of  gathered  earth  a  body  to  then  endue  with  life  ? 
The  questions  are  surely  pertinent,  for  only  by  such 
means  c*an  we  conceive  of  creation.  But  passionate 
disclaimers  and  angry  denunciations  greeted  him  who 
would  frame  such  conceptions  in  exact  language. 
Metaphysical  jargon  and  rhetoric  about  divine  pur- 
poses might  sophisticate,  but  could  not  answer. 

Evolution  denotes  the  derivation  of  living  beings 
from  preceding  in  endless  succession.  Variation  in 
progeny,  limited  heredity,  and  time  are  its  correla- 
tives. These  being  conceded,  the  peopling  of  the 
globe  with  its  life,  past  and  present,  is  conceivable. 

What  was  the  evidence  to  support  the  conflicting 
conceptions  ? 

For  creation  it  was  urged  that  the  universal  con- 
sensus of  mankind  supported  it  ;  that  divine  revela- 


2Q4  Charles  Darwin. 

tion  taught  it ;  and  that  the  diversities  and  special- 
isation of  organic  forms  forbade  the  idea  of  their 
derivation  from  a  common  parentage. 

The  universal  consensus  of  mankind  maintained 
till  the  sixteenth  century  the  doctrine  that  the  earth 
was  flat;  that  the  sun  and  other  planets  circled 
round  the  earth ;  and  that  the  earth  was  the  great 
centre  of  the  universe.  The  universal  consensus  of 
mankind  for  thousands  of  years  is  not  the  universal 
consenus  of  the  enlightened  man,  nor  of  the  present 
century. 

The  teachers  of  revelation  have  been  often  mis- 
taken. Many  are  they  who  once  were  contemned 
and  denounced  because  their  utterances  were  not  iri 
accordance  with  the  opinions  of  their  day,  who  are 
now  accepted  as  the  champions  of  a  purer  religion. 
One  of  the  wisest  priests  of  England  has  said  that 
"  with  a  certain  class  of  religionists  every  invention 
and  discovery  is  considered  impious  and  unscriptural 
as  long  as  it  is  new.  Not  only  the  discoveries  of 
astronomy  and  geology,  but  steam,  gas,  electricity, 
political  economy,  have  all  in  their  turn  been  de- 
nounced ;  and  not  least  chloroform.  Its  use  in  par- 
turition has  been  anathematized  as  an  infraction  of 
the  penalty  pronounced  on  Eve  !  "  *  It  is  not  I, 
but  a  great  clergyman,  who  expresses  such  senti- 
ments. 

The  objection  that  the  differentiation  and  special- 
isation of  organic  beings  gainsay  their  derivation 
from  a  common  source  is  a  most  weighty  one.  In 

*  Rev.  Baden  Powell's  "  Essay  on  the  Spirit  of  the  Inductive  Phi- 
losophy," etc.,  p.  455. 


Evidences  of  Evolution.  205 

the  infancy  of  our  own  knowledge  it  was  unanswer- 
able, and  the  less  we  know  of  nature  the  more  we 
are  impressed  with  these  diversities.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, simply  a  question  of  whether  evolution  is  true  ; 
but  which  is  the  more  probable  of  two  alternatives — 
that  all  the  phenomena  which  point  in  one  direction 
and  which  could  have  occurred  in  natural  sequence, 
have  taken  place  in  such  sequence ;  or  that  direct 
creative  intervention  has  ensued  again  and  again, 
when  the  same  ends  could  have  been  produced  with- 
out such  intervention. 

Nature  was  true  to  her  disciple,  and  herself  fur- 
nished the  replies. 

It  was  contended  that  if  evolution  were  true,  the 
evidence  should  be  forthcoming  in  the  existence  in 
previous  geological  epochs  of  forms  of  a  generalised 
character  intermediate  between  still  earlier  ones  and 
later  widely  separated  forms ;  and  that  of  such  there 
were  very  few. 

The  graves  of  the  distant  past  gave  up  their  dead, 
and  the  ossuaries  of  our  own  far  West  yielded  most 
cogent  testimony  to  the  truth.  Forms  from  the 
Eocene  and  later  beds,  resurrected  by  the  wand  of 
the  anatomist,  rising  in  successive  lines  behind  the 
wide  gaps  in  the  living  files,  proclaimed  that  all  were 
of  one  blood,  and  showed  the  genealogy  of  the  con- 
temporaries of  man. 

Many  were  the  forms  thus  connected.  Few  are 
those  that  may  be  mentioned  on  this  occasion. 
The  horse-like  animals,  the  rhinoceroses,  and  tapirs, 
are  so  unlike,  that  proof  of  their  derivation  from 
one  source  might  be  thought  to  be  impossible.  But 


206  Charles  Darwin. 

as  we  go  back  into  the  ages  we  find  equines  with 
lateral  digits  and  hooflets  becoming  larger  and 
longer,  teeth  shorter  and  more  generalised,  skel- 
etons less  characteristic  ;  rhinoceroses  with  cutting 
teeth,  and  more  slender  forms  ;  tapir-like  animals 
without  the  peculiar  tapirine  teeth,  with  rhinocero- 
toid  skulls,  and  with  otherwise  modified  structure ; 
all  these,  accompanied  by  innumerable  other  modi- 
fications, till  finally  we  are  almost  at  a  loss  to  tell 
whether  it  is  a  horse-like,  a  rhinocerotoid,  or  a  tapir- 
oid  animal  that  is  before  us,  and  they  become  lost  in 
earlier  forms  with  special  characters  of  their  own. 
And  as  we  go  still  further  back  we  are  confronted 
with  still  other  forms  that  are  connected  by  series 
projected  backward  from  the  ruminants  and  from 
the  elephantids.  We  do,  in  fine,  know  the  geneal- 
ogy of  our  own  contemporaries — imperfectly,  it  is 
true,  but  still  we  know  it. 

It  was  objected  that  animals  were  segregated  by 
such  very  wide  intervals  that  they  must  be  isolated 
in  different  branches,  and  that  there  could  be  no 
community  of  structure  between  such  branches ; 
they  expressed  fundamentally  different  plans  of 
structure. 

One  by  one  zoology,  anatomy,  and  embryology 
supplied  the  links  between  the  old  branches;  the 
branches  were  at  length  completely  uprooted,  and 
it  has  even  become  a  matter  of  simple  convention 
what  should  be  considered  major  groups.  Plans  of 
structure  can  no  longer  be  claimed  to  be  peculiar  to 
different  types. 

That  branch  of  which   man   is  the  primate — the 


Obstacles  Raised.  207 

vertebrates — was  supposed  to  be  perfectly  unassail- 
able and  isolated ;  but  zoology  and  anatomy  have 
revealed  to  us  amphioxus,  and  embryology  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  tunicates.  The  evidence  is  now 
conclusive  that  these  forms  which  once  appeared  to 
be  among  the  most  distant,  are  now  the  most  closely 
related.  The  affinities  of  the  tunicates  with  inver- 
tebrates are  evident,  and  thus  we  may  look  far  back 
to  that  time  when  vertebrates  did  not  exist,  but 
when  the  common  ancestors,  from  which  they  and 
the  related  invertebrates  should  diverge,  held  sway. 

It  was  even  pretended  that  the  evidence  was  in- 
sufficient to  show  that  variation  was  possible  or  could 
be  propagated. 

From  every  hand  testimony  was  forthcoming. 
The  breeder  could  point  to  every  domesticated  ani- 
mal— the  horticulturist  and  pomologist  to  all  culti- 
vated plants — the  systematist  and  zoogeographer  to 
the  limits  of  species  which  varied  with  knowledge  of 
their  distribution — the  palaeontologist  to  the  grada- 
tion between  the  extinct  forms  and  widely  separated 
living  species,  as  well  as  to  that  between  forms  which 
lived  in  successive  earlier  epochs. 

It  was  urged  that  the  Darwinian  theory  was  op- 
posed to  revelation,  and  subversive  of  Christianity. 

As  students  of  nature  and  seekers  after  truth 
alone — so  far  as  nature  is  concerned — we  only  ask 
whether  the  views  of  Darwin  are  true  or  not.  But 
now,  from  many  a  pulpit,  and  from  the  most  en- 
lightened of  the  clergy,  we  hear  the  claim  that  evo- 
lution is  in  perfect  accordance  with  revelation,  and  is  a 
witness  to  the  power,  prescience,  and  goodness  of  God. 


20g  Charles  Darwin. 

It  was  contended  that  acceptance  of  the  teachings 
of  Darwin  would  have  a  pernicious  tendency,  and 
entail  riot,  lawlessness,  and  crime  in  the  world. 

A  long  life  of  singular  purity  and  blamelessness 
in  the  person  of  Darwin  was  an  answer.  An  unsul- 
lied heritage  from  an  ancestor  entertaining  like 
views  has  been  transmitted  to  heirs  of  his  body 
without  flaw.  Sons  of  the  great  philosopher  con- 
tinue the  studies  of  their  great  sire,  and  worthily 
wear  the  heavy  mantle  left  to  them. 

One  after  another  the  scientific  opponents  of  evo- 
lution became  convinced  of  its  verity,  or  died  out. 
The  naturalists  of  a  new  generation  with  one  accord 
accepted  "  Darwinism  "  as  a  starting-point  for  their 
more  profound  studies.  The  methods  and  aims  of 
biology  became  changed.  Biology  became  exalted 
from  empiricism  into  a  science.  Long  before  "  The 
Origin  of  Species"  had  even  "  come  of  age,"  accept- 
ance of  its  teachings  had  become  an  essential  of 
scientific  creed,  and  Darwin  was  acknowledged  to 
have  effected  a  greater  revolution  in  science  than 
any  Englishman  since  the  time  of  Newton.  Most 
meet  was  it  then  that  he  should  rest  by  the  side  of 
his  great  predecessor,  whose  rival  he  will  ever  be  in 
fame. 

BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH. 

BY  WILLIAM  H.  DALL, 
Honorary  Curator,  Dept.  of  Mollusks,  U.  S.  National  Museum. 

Charles  Robert  Darwin,  son  of  Dr.  Robert  Waring 
Darwin,  F.R.S.,  and  Susannah  Wedgwood,  grand- 
son of  Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin  and  Josiah  Wedgwood, 
was  born  at  Shrewsbury,  England  February  12, 


D all's  Sketch.  209 


1809.  He  died  of  disease  of  the  heart  at  his  resi- 
dence, Down  House,  Beckenham,  Kent,  at  4  P.M., 
April  19,  1882,  and  consequently  had  attained  the 
age  of  seventy-three  years,  two  months,  and  seven 
days.  At  Shrewsbury  his  childhood  was  passed  and 
his  education  was  obtained  at  the  once  famous 
Shrewsbury  Grammar  School,  presided  over  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Butler,  afterward  Bishop  of  Lich- 
field  and  Coventry. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  entered  the  University 
of  Edinburgh  (1825)  where  he  remained  two  years. 
Even  at  this  early  period  he  had  become  a  student 
of  natural  history,  and  read  his  first  scientific  paper 
before  the  Plinian  Society.  It  was  "  On  the  Move- 
ment of  the  Ova  of  Flustra,"  one  of  the  incrusting 
marine  corallines. 

In  1827  he  entered  Christ's  College,  Cambridge, 
where  he  graduated  as  a  Bachelor  of  Arts  four  years 
later.  Here  he  fell  under  the  influence  of  the  teach- 
ings of  Prof.  John  Stevens  Henslow,  an  excellent 
botanist,  whose  instruction  doubtless  did  much  to 
determine  the  field  of  study  subsequently  occupied 
by  his  pupil. 

In  1831  Captain  Fitz-Roy,  R.N.,  offered  to  share 
his  cabin  with  any  competent  naturalist  who  would 
accompany  him  on  his  prospecting  voyage  to  South 
America  in  H.  M.  S.  Beagle,  detailed  for  surveys  in 
that  region.  Mr.  Darwin,  then  only  twenty-two 
years  of  age,  offered  his  services,  with  the  stipulation 
that  he  should  control  the  collections  made,  and  was 
accepted.  The  Beagle  sailed  November  27,  1831, 
from  Plymouth,  and  returned  to  England  on  the  2d 
of  October,  1836.  During  a  large  part  of  the  voyage 


2  jo  Charles  Darwin. 

Mr.  Darwin  suffered  greatly  from  sea-sickness,  or 
some  difficulty  which  simulated  it,  and  which,  in 
some  form,  returned  at  intervals  throughout'  his 
whole  life,  as  sudden  fits  of  illness  which  prostrated 
him  for  days  together,  and  which  were  followed  by 
long  periods  of  wakeful  convalescence.  Under  the 
circumstances,  the  amount  of  keen  and  patient  ob- 
servation, the  vast  accumulation  of  facts,  and  the 
extensive  collections  obtained  by  Mr.  Darwin  during 
his  voyage,  appear  more  marvellous  than  ever. 

After  his  return  his  health  was  much  shattered, 
and  his  studies  more  or  less  interrupted  for  some 
years.  He  took  his  Master's  degree  in  course,  and 
shortly  after  his  return  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society  (of  which  his  father  and  grandfather 
were  previously  Fellows),  and  of  the  Geological 
Society,  of  which  last  he  was  made  secretary. 

In  1839  he  published  his  epoch-making  work  "A 
Journal  of  Researches  into  the  Geology  and  Natural 
History  of  the  Various  Countries  Visited  by  H.  M. 
S.  Beagle  "  ;  the  first  of  that  long  series  of  investiga- 
tions to  which  his  life  was  devoted,  and  the  publica- 
tion of  which  revolutionised  the  study  of  biology, 
and  gave  to  Darwin  a  position  as  a  naturalist  un- 
paralleled in  the  history  of  science. 

In  the  same  year,  1839,  Mr.  Darwin  married  his 
cousin,  Emma  Wedgwood,  and  retired  to  the  se- 
cluded and  beautiful  district  of  Kent,  where,  in  his 
country-house  of  Down  House,  near  Orpington,  more 
than  forty  years  of  his  life  were  spent.  The  district 
is  purely  agricultural,  a  plateau  of  chalk,  some  four 
hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  interrupted  by  the  wavy 


Dall's  Sketch.  21 


hollows  characteristic  of  the  English  chalk  country, 
with  beech  woods  here  and  there  on  the  slopes.  His 
dwelling  is  one  of  the  old  square-built,  red-brick 
mansions  of  the  last  century,  to  which  has  been 
added  in  more  recent  times  a  gable-fronted  wing, 
with  another  square-built  wing  and  pillared  portico 
on  the  corresponding  side.  Shut  in  and  almost  hid- 
den from  the  roadway  by  a  high  wall  and  belt  of 
trees,  it  offers  ideal  seclusion  for  a  quiet  student. 
On  the  southern  side  the  walled  garden  opens  into  a 
secluded  meadow  bounded  by  a  tract  of  underwood 
through  which  there  is  a  lovely  view  of  the  narrow 
valley  which  descends  toward  Westerham. 

Here,  and  in  the  by-paths  of  adjacent  woods  and 
meadows,  Mr.  Darwin  was  accustomed  to  take  daily 
exercise  with  a  characteristic  regularity.  Up  to  ten 
or  twelve  years  ago,  his  tall  figure,  mounted  on  a 
favorite  old  black  horse,  was  a  familiar  object  in  the 
country  lanes.  This  animal  fell  and  died  suddenly 
one  day,  after  which  it  was  noted  that  Mr.  Darwin 
rode  no  more.  His  invariable  hours  for  walking,  in 
these  later  years,  were  seven  in  the  morning,  noon, 
and  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  usually  accom- 
panied by  one  or  more  of  his  sons  ;  one  of  whom, 
Mr.  Francis  Darwin,  has  long  been  established  as  a 
surgeon  in  the  hamlet  of  Down.  His  habits  were 
extremely  regular.  He  rose  at  six,  took  a  cold 
plunge  bath  (which  was  repeated  in  the  evening), 
breakfasted  alone,  and  after  his  first  morning  walk 
was  usually  in  his  library  by  8  A.M.  At  nine  he 
would  spend  a  little  time  in  the  dining-room  opening 
his  mail,  and  in  the  evening  would  linger  an  hour  or 


212  Charles  Darwin. 

two  in  the  society  of  his  family,  or  that  of  some  of  his 
scientific  friends  who  occasionally  visited  him ;  but 
the  greater  part  of  his  time  was  spent  in  his  library, 
his  garden,  and  the  adjacent  grounds.  A  few  friends, 
among  whom  were  Sir  John  Lubbock  and  Dr.  Farr, 
near  residents,  were  often  with  him,  and  with  such 
he  was  social,  frank,  and  ever  ready  to  enjoy  a  joke 
or  frolic ;  with  all  men  he  was  unpretentious,  kind, 
and  devoid  of  any  artificiality  of  manner ;  but  his 
life  was  essentially  a  secluded  one,  as  may  be  judged 
from  the  fact  that  the  news  of  his  death  did  not 
reach  London  until  noon  of  the  following  day. 

Nevertheless,  his  life  was  far  from  solitary,  for 
his  family  formed  quite  a  colony  in  itself  until  the 
children  reached  maturity.  Two  children,  a  boy  and 
a  girl,  were  lost  in  infancy,  one  dying  in  1842  and  the 
other  in  1858,  and  are  buried  in  the  village  church- 
yard of  Down,  near  by  some  of  the  Wedgwoods. 

In  the  family  who  lived  Mr.  Darwin  was  fortunate. 
His  eldest  son,  William,  is  a  banker  at  Southampton ; 
the  second,  George,  took  high  honours  at  Cambridge, 
and  is  now  a  Fellow  of  Trinity  College  and  a  dis- 
tinguished mathematician  ;  the  third,  Frank,  having 
inherited  his  father's  delicate  constitution,  acted  as 
his  secretary ;  the  fourth,  Leonard,  an  officer  of 
artillery,  has  distinguished  himself  in  the  direction  of 
astronomy ;  the  fifth,  Horace,  is  an  excellent  mathe- 
matician. One  married  and  one  unmarried  daughter 
complete  a  family  whose  constant  care  has  been 
to  relieve  its  head  from  any  trouble  and  anxiety. 

Mr.  Darwin  has  always  been  in  easy  circumstances, 
financially,  so  that  he  could  use  his  time  as  he  chose, 


DaWs  Sketch. 


without  care.  When  young  he  pursued  field-sports, 
with  the  combined  interest  of  the  hunter  and  the 
naturalist ;  in  later  years  he  found  his  chief  relaxa- 
tion in  reading  popular  novels.  His  work  was  taken 
up  with  great  method,  and  he  never  wrote  for  more 
than  two  hours  at  a  time. 

In  1853  ne  received  the  gold  medal  of  the  Royal 
Society  for  his  various  works ;  in  1859  that  known 
as  the  Wollaston  medal  from  the  Geological  Society  ; 
in  1871  he  received  the  Prussian  Order  of  Knight- 
hood "  For  Merit,"  and  was  elected  a  corresponding 
member  of  the  Austrian  Academy  of  Sciences ;  and 
in  1878,  foreign  associate  of  the  French  Academy. 
He  received  honorary  degrees  from  Leyden  and 
Cambridge,  and  other  scientific  honours  almost 
without  number. 

His  death  was  unexpected.  He  had  been  slightly 
unwell  for  several  weeks,  and  the  weakness  of  the 
heart's  action  was  such  that  he  was  not  permitted  to 
ascend  the  stairs,  but,  in  the  main,  he  was  still  able 
to  pursue  his  ordinary  routine.  On  Tuesday  morn- 
ing Sir  John  Lubbock  found  him  apparently  about 
as  usual.  That  he  was  seriously  ill,  was  first  known 
in  the  village  Wednesday  afternoon  by  the  arrival 
of  his  groom  on  horseback,  horse  and  man  reeking 
with  foam,  having  galloped  for  ice  six  miles  and 
back  from  the  nearest  point  where  it  could  be  pro- 
cured ;  but  in  vain,  the  relief  arrived  too  late,  Charles 
Darwin  had  already  passed  away,  surrounded  by  his 
family,  including  several  of  his  sons,  Mrs.  Darwin,  and 
a  married  daughter.  On  the  26th  his  mortal  remains 
were  laid  in  Westminster  Abbey,  near  by  the  ashes  of 


2,4  Charles  Darwin. 

Isaac  Newton,  and  were  followed  to  the  tomb,  not 
only  by  dignitaries  of  Church  and  State,  but  by  the 
universal  reverence  of  the  scientific  world.* 


DARWIN'S  CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  PHILOSOPHY. 

BY  JOHN  W.  POWELL,  PH.D.,  LL.D.,  M.N.A.S., 

Director  of  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  Director  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  Smithsonian 
Institution. 

Many  are  the  definitions  of  philosophy.  If  we 
wish  not  to  define  what  is  true  philosophy,  but 
simply  to  define  the  term  in  all  its  uses  when  refer- 
ring to  all  times  and  all  men,  this  definition  will  do : 
Philosophy  is  the  explanation  of  the  phenomena  of  the 
universe. 

Now,  the  phenomena  of  the  universe  are  em- 
braced in  many  vast  categories. 
'  First,  we  have  the  constitution  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  and  their  real  and  apparent  motions  to  be 
explained.  What  are  they,  and  how  came  they  to 
be  what  they  are  ? 

Then  we  have  the  earth  itself ;  its  forms,  its  lands 
and  seas,  its  mountains  and  valleys,  its  rivers  and 
lakes,  the  winds  which  blow  about  it,  the  storms 
which  fall  upon  it,  the  lightnings  that  flash  athwart 
the  sky,  the  thunders  that  roll  among  the  clouds. 
What  are  all  these  things,  and  whence  came  they, 
and  why  are  they?  Again,  in  the  constitution  of 
the  earth  we  find  rocks  with  their  minerals,  and  geo- 

*  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  state  that  this  sketch  is  a  compilation 
from  all  the  different  sources  which  happened  to  be  available  at  the 
time. 


The  Phenomena  of  the  Universe.        2 1 5 

logic  formations  with  their  fossils.  What  are  rocks 
and  minerals,  formations  and  fossils,  and  whence 
came  they? 

Look  at  the  innumerable  forms  of  plants  covering 
the  earth  with  verdure — the  whole  vegetable  king- 
dom on  the  land  and  on  the  sea  ;  forests,  mosses,  and 
confervae.  Who  shall  explain  the  meaning  of  the 
phenomena  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  ? 

The  oceans  teem  with  animal  life  ;  reptiles  crawl 
over  all  the  land  ;  the  hills  and  the  valleys,  the  moun- 
tains and  the  plains,  are  all  inhabited  by  beasts ; 
and  the  air  itself  is  populated.  Who  shall  tell  us  of 
all  the  living  things,  and  then  explain  life  itself? 

Turn  to  the  contemplation  of  man,  organised  into 
tribes  and  nations ;  man  possessed  of  innumerable 
languages  ;  man  engaged  in  arts  and  industries  ;  man 
endowed  with  reason  and  will ;  man  in  search  of 
moral  principles  to  guide  his  conduct.  Whence 
came  this  man,  and  whither  does  he  go. 

Among  all  tribes  and  nations  of  the  globe,  and  in 
all  times,  men  have  sought  to  discover  the  whence, 
the  how,  and  the  why  of  all  things — the  phenomena 
of  the  universe.  . 

The  explanation  of  the  universe  is  philosophy. 

The  philosophies  of  the  world  may  be  classified 
as — 

I.  Mythologic. 
II.  Metaphysic. 
III.  Scientific. 

Mythology  and  science  constitute  the  two  grand 
systems  of  philosophy,  but  between  them  stands 


216  Charles  Darwin. 


metaphysic  philosophy  as  a  stepping-stone  from 
the  former  to  the  latter.  f 

In  the  lower  stages  of  society,  philosophy  is  purely 
mythologic.  All  savage  and  barbaric  peoples  explain 
the  phenomena  of  the  universe  by  a  system  of 
myths.  A  mythology  is  always  a  growth,  and 
among  every  people  there  grows  up  by  the  employ- 
ment of  diverse  and  superficial  analogies — curious 
suggestions — a  body  of  mythic  explanations  which 
constitute  its  philosophy. 

Among  the  Wintuns  of  California  the  world  is 
three-storied.  There  is  a  world — a  great  chamber — 
above,  and  there  is  this  world,  and  a  world  below. 
The  waters  fall  from  the  world  above  because  the 
sky,  the  floor  of  that  upper  world,  leaks ;  and  the 
waters  come  from  the  world  below  through  the 
springs  that  issue  from  the  flanks  of  the  dead  volca- 
noes of  that  land  ;  so  the  waters  from  above  and 
the  waters  from  below  meet  and  flow  down  the  great 
Sacramento  to  the  sea,  where  again  they  divide ;  the 
waters  from  above  taking  their  way  to  their  upper 
home,  and  the  waters  from  below  taking  their  way 
to  the  lower  world. 

The  mountains  were  formed  by  the  great  mole- 
god,  who  crawled  under  the  land  and  upheaved  the 
mountain  ranges  that  stand  on  either  side  of  the 
Sacramento  Valley.  And  so  they  explain  all  of  the 
phenomena  of  the  universe  with  which  they  are  ac- 
quainted, in  a  system  of  myths  which  constitutes  the 
philosophy  of  the  Wintuns. 

Now  such  a  system  of  philosophy,  a  mythology,  is 
found  in  every  savage  and  barbaric  tribe  of  the  world. 


Metaphysic  Philosophy. 


But  there  came  a  time  in  the  history  of  mankind 
when  some  of  the  peoples  changed  their  philosophy 
—  their  explanation  of  the  phenomena  of  the  uni- 
verse —  by  changing  their  methods  of  reasoning. 

Origin  of  Metaphysic  Philosophy. 

From  three  to  two  thousand  years  ago,  Europe, 
Asia,  and  Africa  established  a  commerce  in  ideas  — 
an  exchange  in  philosophies  —  carried  on  by  the 
navigation  of  the  Mediterranean.  During  that  and 
some  previous  time  there  were  built  on  the  shores 
of  this  sea  many  cities.  Through  the  building  of 
these  cities,  and  through  the  industries  and  arts 
which  sprang  up  therewith,  society  was  reorganised 
and  placed  upon  a  new  basis  —  tribal  society  devel- 
oped into  national  society  —  barbarism  into  civilisa- 
tion. 

The  peoples  of  these  cities  spoke  diverse  lan- 
guages, and  entertained  diverse  mythologic  philoso- 
phies. Through  the  intercourse  which  sprang  up 
between  them,  each  learned  of  the  philosophy  of 
the  other,  and  the  scholars  of  that  day  attempted 
to  discover  in  all  of  these  diverse  mythologies  a 
common  body  of  truth  upon  the  theory  then  widely 
accepted,  that  they  had  all  sprung  from  a  common 
source  —  a  primitive  philosophy  itself  the  truth,  —  and 
that  all  the  philosophies  then  existing  were  degen- 
erations therefrom.  This  line  of  investigation  led 
to  a  curious  result. 

All  of  the  mythologies  of  the  cities  of  the  Medi- 
terranean were  found  to  be  baseless  —  each  a  fabric 


Charles  Darwin. 


of  poetic  but  superficial  analogies.  In  the  mental 
activity  of  that  time  many  new  philosophies  were 
proposed,  diverse  and  contradictory  ;  and  the  wisest 
philosophers  said,  "  How  shall  we  know  the  truth?  " 
And  they  endeavoured  to  discover  some  criterion  by 
which  truth  should  be  known.  This  resulted  in  the 
development  of  formal  logic  as  a  testing  machine 
into  which  opinions  were  put  for  the  purpose  of  sift- 
ing truth  from  error. 

Now  the  machine  called  logic,  the  tool  of  the 
metaphysician,  is  curiously  constructed.  Its  chief 
hypothesis  is  that  man  was  primitively  endowed 
with  fundamental  principles  as  a  basis  of  reasoning, 
and  that  these  principles  can  be  formulated.  These 
fundamental  principles  are  supposed  to  be  universal, 
and  to  be  everywhere  accepted  by  mankind  as  self- 
evident  propositions  of  the  highest  order  and  of  the 
broadest  generalisation.  These  fundamental  propo- 
sitions were  called  major  propositions.  The  machine, 
in  formal  logic,  was  a  verbal  juxtaposition  of  propo- 
sitions with  the  major  propositions  at  the  head, 
followed  by  the  minor  propositions,  and  from  this 
truth  was  supposed  to  flow. 

This  formal  logic  of  the  Aristotelian  epoch  has 
lived  from  that  period  to  the  period  of  science. 
Logic  is  the  instrument  of  metaphysics,  and  meta- 
physic  philosophy,  in  its  multifarious  forms,  is  the 
product  of  logic.  But  during  all  that  time  —  2,000 
years  —  no  truth  has  been  discovered,  no  error  has 
been  detected  by  the  use  of  the  logical  machine. 
Its  fundamental  assumption  is  false. 

It  has  been  discovered  that  man  is  not  endowed 


Scientific  Philosophy.  219 

with  a  body  of  major  propositions.  It  is  found  that 
in  the  course  of  the  evolution  of  mind  minor  propo- 
sitions are  discovered  first,  and  major  propositions 
are  reached  only  by  the  combination  of  minor  propo- 
sitions ;  that  always  in  the  search  for  truth  the  minor 
proposition  comes  first,  and  that  no  major  proposition 
can  ever  be  accepted  until  the  minor  propositions 
included  therein  have  been  demonstrated. 

The  error  in  the  metaphysic  philosophy  was  the 
assumption  that  the  great  truths  were  already  known 
by  mankind,  and  that  by  the  proper  use  of  the  logical 
machine  all  minor  truths  could  be  discovered,  and  all 
errors  eliminated  from  philosophy.  As  metaphysic 
methods  of  reasoning  were  wrong,  metaphysic  phi- 
losophies were  false ;  the  body  of  metaphysic  phi- 
losophy is  a  phantasmagoria. 

The  Origin  of  Scientific  Philosophy. 

While  metaphysic  philosophers  have  been  playing 
with  their  logical  kaleidoscopes,  another  body  of 
philosophers  have  been  at  work  gathering  the  ma- 
terials for  the  philosophy  of  science.  Their  method 
is  to  collect  facts  and  to  discover  their  relations,  and 
they  accept  no  conclusions  that  are  not  reached  by 
this  method.  All  other  conclusions  they  hold  as 
undetermined  or  indeterminate. 

And  now  must  be  given  a  definition  of  science. 
Science  is  the  discernment,  discrimination,  and  classifi- 
cation of  facts,  and  the  discovery  of  their  relations  of 
sequence.  This  is  a  simple  statement,  but  for  its  full 
comprehension  a  little  illustration  may  be  necessary. 


220  Charles  Darwin. 

A  savage  hears  the  voice  of  his  fellow-man,  he 
hears  the  voice  of  the  beast,  and  of  the  bird  ;  he 
also  hears  the  noise  of  the  thunder,  and  he  supposes 
that  the  noise  is  a  voice.  In  these  cases  he  discerns 
noises,  but  he  does  not  discriminate  one  noise  from 
the  other,  and  supposes  them  all  to  be  voices,  and 
that  the  noise  of  the  thunder  is  the  voice  of  the 
Thunder  Bird.  To  understand  facts  we  must  not 
only  discern,  but  discriminate. 

The  next  step  in  the  progress  of  science  is  classifi- 
cation. Having  discerned  and  discriminated  facts, 
they  must  be  classified — all  those  of  like  nature 
thrown  together.  All  noises  made  by  living  beings 
for  conveying  intelligence  may  be  grouped  into  one 
class  and  called  voices ;  all  noises  made  by  explosions 
grouped  in  another  class  ;  and  so,  as  we  go  on  dis- 
cerning, discriminating,  and  classifying,  we  collect 
the  materials  of  philosophy. 

But  this  is  not  all  of  philosophy.  Facts  have 
genetic  relations.  If  one  thing  is  done  something 
else  will  follow,  and  the  highest  function  of  scientific 
philosophy  is  to  discover  the  order  of  succession  of 
phenomena — how  phenomena  follow  phenomena  in 
endless  procession,  how  every  fact  has  had  its  ante- 
cedent fact,  and  every  fact  must  have  its  consequent 
fact.  This  part  of  science  is  called  evolution,  and  by 
this  expression  scientific  men  mean  to  be  understood 
that  phenomena  go  on  in  endless  consequences,  and 
that  every  act  has  been  preceded  by  some  other  act, 
and  that  every  act  will  be  followed  by  some  other 
act ;  that  the  causes  of  all  of  the  phenomena  of  the 
universe  that  we  wish  to  explain  in  a  system  of  phil- 


Evolution.  221 


osophy  run  back  into  the  infinite  past ;  that  the  con- 
sequences of  all  of  the  phenomena  which  we  may 
now  observe  in  the  universe  will  run  on  into  the  in- 
finite future.  This  is  evolution. 

The  statement  now  given  of  the  three  great  sys- 
tems of  philosophy  is,  perhaps,  sufficient  for  our 
purposes  this  evening,  and  it  remains  for  us  to  point 
out  the  part  contributed  to  scientific  philosophy  by 
Darwin,  whom  we  mourn  to-night. 

When  Darwin  rose  as  a  light  in  the  scientific 
world,  scientific  philosophers  had  already  discovered 
that  the  philosophic  method  of  research  should  in- 
clude the  discernment,  discrimination,  and  classifica- 
tion of  facts.  At  that  time  the  scientific  men  of  the 
world  were  engaged  chiefly  in  the  collection  and 
arrangement  of  facts.  To  some  extent  they  were 
engaged  in  discovering  their  relations  of  sequence. 
Important  and  interesting  sequences  had  been  dis- 
covered in  the  vast  realm  of  astronomy  ;  other  inter- 
esting sequences  of  facts  had  been  discovered  in  the 
realm  of  geology  ;  some  interesting  sequences  of 
facts  had  been  discovered  in  the  realm  of  human 
history.  In  the  realm  of  biology,  in  plant  and  ani- 
mal life,  the  order  of  succession  of  facts,  the  method 
of  evolution,  had  not  been  discovered  ;  yet  many 
men  were  thinking  on  the  subject,  many  men  search- 
ing for  the  method  and  course  of  biologic  evolution. 
The  facts  relating  thereto  were  partly  known,  and 
the  course  and  laws  of  biologic  evolution  were  dimly 
discerned. 

It  remained  for  Darwin  to  demonstrate  the  laws 
of  biologic  evolution,  and  the  course  of  the  progress 


Charles  Darwin. 


of  life  upon  the  globe.  This  he  has  done  in  a  man- 
ner so  masterly  that  there  lives  not  in  the  world  a 
working  biologist,  a  scientific  man  engaged  in  this 
field  of  research,  who  has  not,  directly  or  indirectly, 
accepted  his  great  conclusions,  and  the  larger  body 
of  biologists  have  accepted  them  directly. 

Let  us  now  go  back  to  the  statement  that,  prior  to 
the  time  of  Darwin,  scientific  men  engaged  in  re- 
searches relating  to  vegetal  and  animal  life  were 
occupied  chiefly  in  the  discernment,  discrimination, 
and  classification  of  facts. 

Botanists  and  zoologists  were  engaged  in  describ- 
ing species,  and  classifying  species,  and  this  did  not 
always  enlist  the  highest  talent  ;  and  naturalists  had 
become  wearied  with  discussions  over  minute  differ- 
ences and  obscure  resemblances,  the  origin  and 
meaning  of  which  were  not  understood. 

The  discovery,  largely  made  by  Darwin,  of  the 
laws  of  succession,  or  genesis,  gave  to  this  depart- 
ment of  scientific  research  a  wonderful  impetus,  and 
since  that  day  thousands  of  men  have  sprung  up 
throughout  the  civilised  world  to  take  part  in 
biologic  research. 

In  this  field  the  greatest  talent  of  the  latest  time 
is  absorbed.  The  philosophy  of  biology  satisfies 
the  reason.  In  the  universe  of  life,  system  is  dis- 
covered, and  biologists  see  visions  of  the  origin  of 
living  beings,  and  dream  dreams  of  the  destiny  of 
living  beings. 

Had  philosophers  discovered  that  the  generations 
of  living  beings  were  degenerating,  they  would  have 
discovered  despair.  Had  they  discovered  that  life 


Biologic  Evolution.  223 

moves  by  steps  of  generations  in  endless  circles — 
that  what  has  been  is,  and  what  is  shall  be,  and  there 
is  no  progress,  the  gift  of  science  to  man'would  have 
been  worthless. 

The  revelation  of  science  is  this  :  Every  generation 
in  life  is  a  step  in  progress  to  a  higher  and  fuller  life  ; 
science  has  discovered  hope. 

Darwin  demonstrated  what  others  vaguely  be- 
lieved or  dimly  saw — the  course  and  methods  of 
biologic  evolution.  Darwin  gave  hope  to  philosophy. 

The  universe  of   phenomena  may   be  classed    in 
three  great  categories : 
I.  Physical. 
II.  Biologic. 
III.  Anthropologic. 

Physical  phenomena  may  be  thrown  into  three 
categories :  I.  Molar  or  mechanical  physics ;  2. 
Stellar  or  astronomical  physics  ;  3.  Molecular  physics. 

Biologic  phenomena  may  be  classed  as :  i.  Vege- 
tal ;  2.  Animal. 

Anthropologic  phenomena  may  be  classed  as  :  I. 
Sociologic ;  2.  Philologic ;  3.  Philosophic ;  4,  Psy- 
chologic. 

To  the  discovery  of  the  methods  and  course  of 
physical  evolution  i.e.  the  order  of  succession  in 
physical  phenomena,  many  great  men  have  con- 
tributed. Among  these,  Newton  stands  pre-eminent. 

The  discovery  of  biologic  evolution,  i.e.,  the  suc- 
cession of  phenomena  in  vegetal  and  animal  life,  is 
in  like  manner  due  to  the  researches  of  many  men, 
but  among  these  Darwin  stands  pre-eminent.  By 
his  discoveries  the  discoveries  of  all  other  biologists 


224  Charles  Darwin. 

have  been  correlated  and  woven  into  systematic 
philosophy.  The  methods  and  course  of  anthropo- 
logic  evolution  have  yet  to  be  systematised.  Import- 
ant discoveries  have  been  made,  but  this  portion  of 
philosophy  is  yet  inchoate. 

Working  Hypotheses. 

But  Darwin's  investigations  have  not  ended  re- 
search or  completed  philosophy.  He  brought  scien- 
tific men  to  the  frontiers  of  truth,  and  showed  them 
a  path  across  the  border.  Yet  more  than  this  he 
did.  He  pointed  out  one  of  the  fundamental  meth- 
ods of  research.  Before  his  time  philosophers  talked 
about  deductive  methods  and  inductive  methods. 
Darwin  has  taught  us  that  both  are  fruitless. 

Deductive  methods  are  the  logical  or  metaphysical 
methods  which  have  been  already  described,  by 
which  men  arrive  at  conclusions  from  general  prin- 
ciples supposed  to  be  innate  in  the  human  mind. 
The  vanity  of  these  methods  has  already  been  char- 
acterised. 

Inductive  methods  have  found  their  best  expres- 
sion in  the  Baconian  philosophy.  By  inductive 
methods  men  are  to  collect  facts,  unbiased  by  opin- 
ions or  preconceived  theories.  They  are  to  gather 
the  facts,  put  them  together,  arrange  and  combine 
them  to  find  higher  and  still  higher  generalisations. 

But  there  are  facts  and  facts — facts  with  value,  and 
facts  without  value.  The  indiscriminate  gathering 
of  facts  leads  to  no  important  discoveries.  Men 
might  devote  themselves  to  counting  the  leaves  on 
the  trees,  the  blades  of  grass  in  the  meadows,  the 


Working  Hypotheses.  225 

grains  of  sand  on  the  sea-shore ; — they  might  weigh 
each  one,  and  measure  each  one,  and  go  on  collecting 
such  facts  until  libraries  were  filled,  and  the  minds 
of  men  buried  under  their  weight,  and  no  addition 
would  be  made  to  philosophy  thereby.  There  must 
be  some  method  of  selecting,  some  method  of  de- 
termining what  facts  are  valuable  and  what  facts  are 
trivial.  The  fool  collects  facts  ;  the  wise  man  selects 
them. 

Amid  the  multiplicity  of  facts  in  the  universe,  how 
does  the  wise  man  choose  for  his  use  ?  The  true 
scientific  man  walks  not  at  random  through  the 
world,  making  notes  of  what  he  sees  ;  he  chooses 
some  narrow  field  of  investigation.  Within  this  field 
he  reviews  what  is  already  known,  and  becomes  con- 
versant with  the  conclusions  already  reached.  He 
then  seeks  to  discern  more  facts  in  this  field,  and  to 
make  more  careful  discriminations  therein,  and  then 
to  make  more  homologic  classifications ;  and,  finally, 
more  thoroughly  to  discover  the  complexity  of 
sequences. 

If  he  attain  to  success  in  doing  all  this  his  investi- 
gations are  always  suggested  by  some  hypothesis — 
some  supposition  of  what  he  may  discover.  He  may 
find  that  his  hypothesis*  is  wrong,  and  discover  some- 
thing else  ;  but  without  an  hypothesis  he  discovers 
nothing.  A  scientific  man  taking  up  a  subject  re- 
views the  facts  that  are  known,  and  imagines  that  they 
lead  to  conclusions  that  have  not  yet  been  reached 
by  others.  His  imagination  may  lead  him  quite 
astray,  yet  he  follows  it,  and  says  :  "  Now  if  this  be 
true,  then  there  must  be  certain  yet  undiscovered 
15 


226  Charles  Darwin. 

facts,"  and  he  seeks  for  them.  He  may  find  that 
which  he  seeks,  or  he  may  find  something  quite 
other.  If  he  be  an  honest  thinker,  a  true  philoso- 
pher, it  matters  not  to  him.  He  substantiates  his 
hypothesis  or  constructs  a  new  one.  If  such  hy- 
pothesis leads  to  many  new  discoveries  scientific 
men  accept  it,  and  call  it  a  working  hypothesis,  and 
if  it  still  leads  on  to  discovery  scientific  men  call  it  a 
theory ;  and  so  working  hypotheses  are  developed 
into  theories,  and  these  theories  become  the  funda- 
mental principles,  the  major  propositions  of  science, 
the  widest  generalisations  of  philosophy. 

Sometimes  the  inductive  method — the  Baconian 
method — is  said  to  have  been  modified  or  improved 
by  the  addition  of  the  method  by  working  hypothe- 
ses, and  then  modern  scientific  methods  are  said  to 
be  inductive.  With  this  understanding,  it  may  be 
said  that  the  deductive  methods  of  metaphysics  have 
been  supplanted  by  the  inductive  methods  of  science. 
It  would,  perhaps,  be  better  to  say  that  deductive 
and  inductive  methods  have  been  superseded  by  the 
method  of  working  hypotheses. 

Working  hypotheses  are  the  instruments  with 
which  scientific  men  select  facts.  By  them,  reason 
and  imagination  are  conjoined,  and  all  the  powers  of 
the  mind  employed  in  research. 

Darwin,  more  than  any  other  man,  has  taught  the 
use  of  working  hypotheses.  Newton  and  Darwin 
are  the  two  great  lights  of  science — the  Gemini  in 
the  heavens  of  philosophy  ;  stars  whose  glory  is  the 
brightest  of  all. 

There  be  good  folk  in  the  world  who  love  mytho- 


The  Red  Mans  Philosophy.  227 

logic  and  metaphysic  philosophy — one  or  both.  In 
the  ears  of  such  the  praise  of  Darwin  is  not  sweet 
music.  Let  me  beg  of  such  who  may  be  here  to 
consider  that  we  come  to-night  to  praise  our  dead, 
and  to  tell  of  our  love  for  the  man  who  gave  us  hope. 
You  and  I  cannot  contend  over  an  open  grave,  and 
in  my  soul  I  find  no  cause  for  angry  contention 
elsewhere.  Every  man's  opinions  are  honest  opin- 
ions— his  opinions  are  the  children  of  his  own  reason- 
ing, and  he  loves  his  offspring. 

When  I  stand  before  the  sacred  fire  in  an  Indian 
village  and  listen  to  the  red  man's  philosophy,  no 
anger  stirs  my  blood.  I  love  him  as  one  of  my 
kind.  He  has  a  philosophy  not  unlike  that  of  my 
forefathers,  though  widely  separated  from  my  own, 
and  I  love  him  as  one  near  akin. 

Among  civilised  men  I  find  no  one  who  has  not  a 
philosophy  in  part  common  with  my  own  ;  and  of 
those  smaller  portions  of  our  philosophies  which 
are  not  alike,  I  see  no  cause  why  anger  should 
be  kindled  between  us  thereby.  They  and  I  are 
bound  together  by  the  same  cord  of  honesty  in 
opinion. 

In  Darwin's  writings  I  find  no  word  of  reproach. 
Denunciation  and  ridicule,  greater  than  any  other 
man  has  endured,  never  kindled  a  spark  of  hatred  in 
his  breast.  Wrapped  in  the  mantle  of  his  philosophy 
he  received  no  wounds,  but  lived  with  and  loved 
mankind. 

Let  us  not  gird  science  to  our  loins  as  the  warrior 
buckles  on  his  sword.  Let  us  raise  science  aloft  as 
the  olive  branch  of  peace  and  the  emblem  of  hope. 


22g  Charles  Darwin. 

DARWIN'S  WORK  IN  ENTOMOLOGY. 
BY  CHARLES  V.  RILEY,  PH.D., 

Hon.  Curator  of  Entomology,  National  Museum ;  Entomologist  of  the  Agricultural 
Department. 

Charles  Robert  Darwin  was  one  of  the  original 
members  of  the  London  Entomological  Society,  of 
whom  only  six  are  yet  living.  He  always  took  the 
keenest  interest  in  the  science  of  entomology,  and 
drew  largely  from  insects  for  illustrations  in  support 
of  the  theory  with  which  his  name  will  forever  be 
associated.  Indeed,  I  have  the  authority  of  my  late 
associate  editor  of  the  American  Entomologist,  Ben- 
jamin Dann  Walsh,  who  was  a  classmate  of  Darwin's, 
at  Cambridge,  that  the  latter's  love  of  natural  history 
was  chiefly  manifested,  while  there,  in  a  fine  collec- 
tion of  insects  ;  so  that,  as  has  been  the  case  with  so 
many  noted  naturalists,  Darwin  probably  acquired 
from  the  study  of  insects  that  love  of  nature  which 
first  forever  afterward  inspired  him  in  his  endeavours 
to  win  her  secrets  and  interpret  aright  her  ways ! 

Though  he  has  left  no  descriptive  or  systematic 
work  of  an  entomological  character,  yet  his  writings 
abound  in  important  facts  and  observations  anent 
insects,  and  no  branch  of  natural  science  has  more 
fully  felt  the  beneficial  impulse  and  stimulus  of  his 
labors  than  entomology.  Indeed,  the  varying  condi- 
tions of  life  in  the  same  individual  or  species ;  the 
remarkable  metamorphoses  ;  the  rapid  development ; 
the  phenomena  of  dimorphism  and  heteromorphism  ; 
of  phytophagic  and  sexual  variation ;  the  ready 
adaptation  to  changed  conditions,  and  consequent 


Entomological  Works.  229 

rapid  modification ;  the  great  prolificacy  and  im- 
mense number  of  individuals ;  the  three  distinctive 
states  of  larva,  pupa,  and  imago,  susceptible  to 
modification,  as  well  as  other  characteristics  in  in- 
sects— render  them  particularly  attractive  and  useful 
to  the  evolutionist,  and  the  changed  aspect  which 
natural  history  in  general  has  assumed  since  the 
publication  of  the  "  Origin  of  Species  "  is  perhaps 
more  marked  in  entomology  than  in  any  other 
branch,  for  its  author  helped  to  replace  ridicule 
by  reason.  During  his  voyage  on  the  Beagle  he  col- 
lected a  very  large  number  of  interesting  species, 
especially  in  Coleoptera,  and  they  formed  the  basis 
of  many  memoirs  by  Walker,  Newman,  and  White, 
and  particularly  by  G.  R.  Waterhouse,  who  named 
Odontoscelis  Darwinii  after  him.  These  memoirs 
were  published  either  in  the  Annals  and  Magazine 
of  Natural  History,  and  in  the  Transactions  of  tJie 
London  Entomological  Society,  or  in  various  entomo- 
logical periodicals,  and  I  append  a  list,  which,  in  this 
connection,  it  is  not  necessary  to  read. 

Scattered  through  his  memorable  works,  a  "  Jour- 
nal of  Researches  into  the  Natural  History  and 
Geology  of  the  Countries  Visited  during  the  Voyage 
of  H.  M.  S.  Beagle  round  the  World  "  (which  is  best 
known  by  the  publisher's  title,  "A  Naturalist's 
Voyage  round  the  World"),  and  "The  Origin  of 
Species  by  Means  of  Natural  Selection,"  are  many 
interesting  entomological  facts,  and  in  almost  every 
instance  they  are  illumined  by  his  masterly  genius 
and  his  keen,  penetrating  mind.  These  are  so  nu- 
merous, so  varied,  and  withal  so  widely  dispersed, 


230  Charles  Darwin. 


that  I  can  only  make  reference,  at  this  time,  to  a  few 
of  the  most  important  and  striking  of  them. 

He  pointed  out  the  great  preponderance  of  phy- 
tophagous over  predaceous  species  in  the  tropics  as 
exemplifying  the  relation  of  the  insect  and  plant 
worlds,  both  of  which  attain  their  maximum  in  those 
zones.  Carabida  are  few ;  Scavengers  and  Brachely- 
tra  very  common  ;  Rhynchophora  and  Chrysomelida 
astonishingly  numerous.  ("  Journal  of  Researches," 
etc.,  p.  34.) 

He  showed  by  minute  observations  that  the  insect 
faunas  of  Tierra  del  Fuego,  separated  from  Patago- 
nia only  by  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  have  nothing  in 
common,  and  he  discussed  the  influence  of  primary 
barriers  on  the  distribution  of  species,  as  shown  in 
the  marked  divergence  of  the  faunas  on  the  eastern 
and  western  slopes  of  the  Cordillera.  "  We  ought 
not,"  he  remarks,  "  to  expect  any  closer  similarity 
between  the  organic  beings  on  the  opposite  sides  of 
great  mountain  ranges  than  on  the  opposite  shores  of 
the  ocean,  except  for  species  which  have  been  able  to 
cross  the  barrier,  whether  of  rock  or  salt  water." 
(Ibid.,  pp.  326,  327.) 

I  believe  he  was  the  first  to  draw  attention  to  the 
paucity  of  insects  on  islands,  and  to  establish  the 
principle  that  the  smaller  the  area,  the  less  favourable 
it  is  for  the  development  of  insect  life.  (Ibid.,  p.  391 .) 

It  is  a  fact  of  observation  that  islands  predispose 
to  the  apterous  condition  among  insects,  a  fact  that 
is  especially  noticeable  in  Kerguelen's  Land,  as  ob- 
served by  Dr.  Hooker,  and  particularly  by  our  fellow 
member,  Dr.  Kidder.  Darwin  ("  Origin  of  Species," 


Reasons  for  Belief.  231 


etc.,  p.  109)  first  suggested  the  most  plausible  reason, 
viz.  :  that  the  indiscriminate  use  of  wings  might 
prove  injurious  to  an  insular  species  by  tempting  it 
out  to  sea  and  to  destruction,  so  that  the  loss  of  the 
power  of  flight  is  a  positive  advantage  to  the  species. 
The  argument  against  this  explanation,  viz. :  that 
insular  species  should  be  gifted  with  strong  powers 
of  flight  to  fortify  themselves  against  being  blown  to 
sea  in  heavy  gales,  has  little  force,  because  either 
requirement  may  be  fulfilled  ;  and,  in  reality,  where 
flight  is  absolutely  necessary,  as  in  the  majority  of 
Lepidoptera,  and  flower-frequenting  Coleoptera,  the 
wing  capacity,  in  insular  species,  is  actually  increased, 
or  correlated  with  a  diminution  of  bulk  ;  whereas,  in 
those  less  dependent  on  aerial  progression,  natural 
selection  would  decrease  wing-power,  and  there 
would  be  just  such  a  correlated  increase  of  bulk  as  is 
generally  the  case. 

The  principle  he  laid  down,  that  the  accidental 
introduction  of  organic  beings  amongst  others  to 
whose  interest  they  are  hostile,  may  be  a  powerful 
means  of  keeping  the  latter  in  check,  and  of  finally 
destroying  them,  finds  vivid  exemplification  in  in- 
sects, as  I  have  shown  in  discussing  those  imported 
into  this  country.* 

He  gave  reasons  for  the  belief  (now  generally 
accepted)  that  the  usual  gaudy  colouring  of  inter- 
tropical  insects  is  not  related  either  to  the  heat  or 
light  of  those  zones,  but  rather  to  the  conditions  of 
existence  being  generally  favourable  to  life.  ("  Jour- 

*  "  Second  Annual  Report  on  the  Insects  of  Missouri,"  1879,  pp. 
8-13. 


232  Charles  Darwin. 

nal  of  Researches,"  etc.,  p.  381.)  He  has  written 
on  the  phosphorescence  of  fire-flies,  and  on  the 
habits  of  the  larva  of  one  of  them — Lamphyris  occi- 
dentalis.  (Ibid.,  pp.  29,  30.)  He  discussed  the  food- 
habits  of  stercovorous  beetles,  with  reference  to  the 
origination  of  a  new  habit  and  the  power  of  adapta- 
tion to  new  conditions.  (Ibid.,  p.  490,  note.) 

At  Port  St.  Julian,  Patagonia,  he  found  a  species 
of  Tabanus  extremely  common,  and  remarks  :  "  We 
here  have  the  puzzle  that  so  frequently  occurs  in 
the  case  of  mosquitoes — on  the  blood  of  what  do 
these  insects  commonly  feed  ?  The  guanaco  is 
nearly  the  only  warm-blooded  quadruped,  and  is 
found  in  quite  inconsiderable  numbers  compared 
with  the  multitude  of  flies."  He  has  discussed  the 
question  of  hibernation  of  insects,  and  shown  that  it 
is  governed  by  the  usual  climate  of  a  district,  and 
not  by  absolute  temperature.  (Ibid.,  pp.  98,  99.)  He 
gave  the  first  true  explanation  of  the  springing 
power  of  the  Elaterida  when  laid  on  their  backs, 
showing  how  much  depended  on  the  elasticity  of 
the  sternal  spine.  (Ibid.,  p.  31.)  He  was  the  first,  I 
believe,  to  record  the  exceptional  powers  of  running 
and  of  making  sound,  in  a  butterfly,  viz.,  Ageronia 
feronia  of  Brazil. 

In  his  most  famous  work  he  lays  stress  particu- 
larly on  the  following  facts  and  generalisations,  for 
which  he  draws  from  insects :  the  individual  differ- 
ences in  important  characters  ;  the  remarkable  man- 
ner in  which  individuals  of  the  same  brood  often 
differ,  dimorphism  and  trimorphism  being  only  the 
extreme  exaggeration  of  this  fact ;  the  difficulty  of 


Insect  Life.  233 


distinguishing  between  species  and  varieties  ;  that 
geographical  races  are  local  forms  completely  fixed 
and  isolated  ;  that  representative  species  are  better 
distinguished  from  each  other  than  local  forms  and 
sub-species  ;  that  the  species  of  large  genera  vary 
more  frequently  than  those  of  small  genera,  and 
that  specific  differences  in  the  former  are  often  ex- 
ceedingly small ;  that  fecundity  does  not  determine 
the  rate  of  increase  ;  that  the  struggle  for  life  is 
most  severe  between  species  of  the  same  genus; 
that  secondary  sexual  characters  are  generally  dis- 
played in  the  same  parts  of  the  organisation  in 
which  the  species  of  the  same  genus  differ  from 
each  other ;  that  distinct  species  present  analogous 
variations  ;  that  similar  structures  are  often  inde- 
pendently developed  ;  the  varying  importance  for 
classification  of  the  same  important  organ  in  the 
same  group  of  beings  ;  that  analogical  or  adaptive 
resemblances  are  misleading  for  classification  ;  that 
the  great  frequency  of  mimicry  among  insects  is 
associated  with  their  small  size  and  general  defence- 
lessness,  as  no  species  furnished  with  a  sting,  or 
other  defensive  property,  is  known  to  mimic  other 
species ;  the  importance  of  relative  position  or 
connection  in  homologous  parts  ;  the  remarkable 
changes  of  structure  effected  during  development ; 
that  adaptation  to  the  conditions  of  life  in  the  in- 
sect larva  is  just  as  perfect  and  beautiful  as  in  the 
adult  animal,  and  that,  consequently,  larvae  of  dif- 
ferent orders  are  often  similar,  and  larvae  belonging 
to  the  same  order  often  very  dissimilar ;  that  larval 
and  pupal  stages  are  acquired  through  adaptation, 


234  Charles  Darwin. 

and  not  through  inheritance ;  that  rudimentary  or- 
gans  plainly  declare  their  origin  and  meaning. 

Finally  he  brought  together  a  large  body  of 
interesting  facts  in  entomology,  bearing  on  the  de- 
velopment and  perpetuation  of  mimicry,  and  of 
secondary  sexual  characters — all  more  or  less  ex- 
plicable by,  and  furnishing  convincing  argument  for, 
the  general  theory  of  natural  selection;  while  he 
freely  acknowledged  that  he  found  among  insects 
facts  that -seemed  to  be  most  fatal  to  the  theory. 
This  is  especially  the  case  in  social  insects  where  the 
colony  contains  neuters  and  sterile  females  which 
often  differ  widely  in  instinct  and  in  structure  from 
the  sexual  forms,  and  yet  cannot  propagate  their 
kind.  This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  into  a  disrus- 
sion  of  the  subject,  and  I  will  simply  remark  that 
there  are  reasons  for  the  belief  that,  in  his  candour, 
he  has' been  led  to  exaggerate  the  difficulties  in  this 
case. 

But  Darwin's  chief  investigations  into  insect  life 
were  in  its  relations  to  plant  life,  and  his  work  "  On 
the  Various  Contrivances  by  Which  British  and  For- 
eign Orchids  are  Fertilized  by  Insects,  and  on  the 
Good  Effect  of  Crossing,"  as  also  that  on  "  Insecti- 
vorous Plants,"  are  monuments  of  skill,  industry, 
and  lucid  exposition. 

Entomologists  had  often  noticed  the  pollen  masses 
of  orchids  attached  to  the  proboscis  of  various  moths, 
and  in  commenting  upon  the  fact  had  pronounced 
it  "  curious."  Darwin  in  this,  as  in  so  many  other 
cases,  gave  meaning  to  the  curious,  and  brought 
light  out  of  darkness. 


Paleontology.  235 


Before  his  time  we  find  frequent  reference  to  the 
injury  caused  to  plants  by  insects,  and  Sprengel, 
Gaertner,  Herbert,  and  others  had  shown  that  in- 
sects were  also,  in  many  cases,  beneficial  and  even 
necessary  to  plants  ;  the  color,  form,  odor,  secretions, 
and  general  structure  of  which  have  reference  to 
their  necessary  insect  pollinisers. 

Yet  their  writings  had  produced  but  slight  im- 
pression outside  of  a  limited  circle.  It  remained  for 
Darwin  to  impress  the  world  with  a  broader  sense 
of  the  actual  interrelation  between  the  two,  and  to 
inspire  a  number  of  observers  in  this  field  in  all 
parts  of  the  globe,  who  are  now  constantly  adding 
to  the  rich  store  of  facts  we  already  possess  on  the 
subject.  I  need  only  refer  to  the  work  of  Hooker, 
Bennet,  Axell,  Delpino,  Hildebrand,  H.  Miiller,  and 
others  abroad,  and  to  that  of  Dr.  Gray  and  Mr. 
Wm.  Trelease  at  home. 

The  importance  of  insects  as  agents  in  cross-fertil- 
isation, was  never  properly  appreciated  till  after 
Darwin's  remarkable  work  on  Primula  and  his  re- 
searches on  Orchids,  Limim,  Lythnim,  etc. 

He  established  the  principle  that  "  nature  abhors 
close  fertilization,"  and  though  some  less  careful 
observers  in  this  country — exaggerating  the  import- 
ance of  their  isolated  and  often  inaccurate  observa- 
tions— have  opposed  his  views,  the  scientific  world 
has  been  convinced  alike  by  the  force  of  his  logic  as 
by  the  eloquence  of  his  innumerable  facts. 

We  all  know  how  palaeontology  has  verified  many 
of  his  anticipations  as  to  missing  links  being  supplied 
with  increased  knowledge  of  the  geological  record, 


236  Charles  Darwin. 

and  in  connection  with  his  work  on  the  fertilisation 
of  orchids  we  have  a  remarkable  instance  of  similar 
verification.  The  nectaries  of  Angrtzcum  sesquipedale 
were  found  by  him  to  sometimes  reach  1 1£  inches  in 
length,  with  only  the  lowest  i£  inches  filled  with 
nectar.  He  said  "there  must  be  moths  with  pro- 
bosces  capable  of  extension  to  a  length  of  between 
10  and  ii  inches."  In  Nature  for  July  17,  1873,  or 
some  years  later,  Fritz  Muller  recorded  through  his 
brother,  Herman  Muller,  the  finding  of  a  Brazilian 
Sphingid  having  a  length  of  proboscis  of  0.25  metres, 
or  between  10  and  1 1  inches. 

I  cannot  do  justice  to  Darwin's  work  on  "  Insec- 
tivorous Plants "  within  the  time  to  which  these 
remarks  have  been  limited,  nor  without  trenching 
on  the  ground  to  be  covered  by  Professor  Ward.  I 
must  be  content  to  remark,  therefore,  that  he  dem- 
onstrated the  new  and  wonderful  fact  in  physiology 
that  many  plants  are  capable  of  absorbing  soluble 
matter  from  captured  insects,  and  that  they  have 
special  contrivances  and  sensibilities  that  facilitate 
the  capture  of  their  prey :  in  other  words,  that 
plants  actually  capture  and  digest  animal  food ;  for 
the  secretion  of  Drosera,  and  other  insectivorous 
plants,  with  its  ferment-acid  belonging  to  the  acetic 
series,  resembles  the  gastric  juice  of  animals  with  its 
pepsin  and  hydrochloric  acid.  The  fact  of  absorp- 
tion demonstrated,  it  follows  that  the  process  would 
prove  serviceable  to  plants  growing  in  very  poor 
soil,  and  that  it  would  tend  to  be  perfected  by 
natural  selection. 

The  pleasure  Darwin  took  in  observing  the  hab- 


Observations  of  Insects.  237 


its  and  ways  of  insects  and  the  simple  and  lucid 
manner  in  which  he  recorded  his  observations  are  fre- 
quently exemplified  in  his  "  Journal  of  Researches," 
and  his  account  of  sundry  Brazilian  species  on  page 
35,  and  following,  may  be  consulted  as  an  example. 

In  the  same  way  that  he  has  influenced  all  lines  of 
thought  and  investigation,  he  has  influenced  ento- 
mology. We  find  everywhere  in  his  treatment  of 
insects  the  same  acute  perception,  the  same  candour 
and  impartiality,  the  same  clearness  of  expression, 
the  same  aptitude  to  get  at  the  significance  and 
bearing  of  facts  observed,  as  well  as  the  same  readi- 
ness to  deduce  a  theory,  which  is  only  equalled  by 
the  devotion  with  which  he  clings  to  the  truth, 
whether  favourable  or  unfavourable  to  the  theory. 

In  the  light  of  Darwinism,  insect  structure  and 
habit  have  come  to  possess  a  new  significance  and 
a  deeper  meaning.  It  has,  in  short,  proved  a  new 
power  to  the  working  entomologist  who,  for  all 
time,  will  hold  in  reverence  the  name  of  him  who, 
more  than  any  other  man,  helped  to  replace  scholas- 
ticism by  induction,  and  who  gave  to  the  philosophic 
study  of  insects  as  great  an  impetus  as  did  Linnaeus 
to  their  systematic  study. 

In  his  private  life  Darwin  has  given  us  a  lesson  of 
patience,  courtesy,  and  consideration,  that  will  be  best 
appreciated  by  those  who  have  the  misfortune  to  be 
endowed  with  more  irritable  and  aggressive  natures. 

As  the  above  account  of  Darwin's  entomological 
work  is  doubtless  rather  uninteresting  to  most  of 
those  gathered  here,  I  will  close,  by  request,  with  a 
few  personal  impressions. 


238  Charles  Darwin. 

I  have  had  the  pleasure,  on  two  occasions,  of  visit- 
ing Darwin  at  his  invitation.  On  the  first  occasion, 
in  the  summer  of  1871,  I  was  accompanied  by  Mr.  J. 
Jenner  Wier,  one  of  his  life-long  friends  and  admir- 
ers. From  Mr.  Wier  I  first  learned  that  Darwin  was, 
in  one  sense,  virtually  a  confirmed  invalid,  and  that 
his  work  had  been  done  under  physical  difficulties 
which  would  have  rendered  most  men  of  indepen- 
dent means  vapid,  self-indulgent,  and  useless  members 
of  society. 

It  is  eloquent  of  the  indomitable  will  and  perse- 
verance of  the  man  that,  during  the  long  voyage  on 
the  Beagle,  he  suffered  so  from  sea-sickness  that  he 
never  fully  recovered  from  the  shock  to  his  system, 
and  could  not  again  venture  on  the  ocean.  He  had, 
in  fact,  on  his  return  from  the  voyage,  to  go  through 
a  long  course  of  hydropathic  treatment.  We  also 
now  know  that  though  he  had  suffered  much  for 
some  months  past  from  weakness  and  recurring  fits 
of  faintness,  and  had  been  confined  to  the  house,  yet 
as  late  as  Tuesday  evening  before  the  day  of  his 
death,  at  4  P.M.,  Wednesday,  he  was  in  his  study 
examining  a  plant  which  he  had  had  brought  to  him, 
and  that  he  read  that  night  before  retiring,  while  as 
late  as  the  i6th  of  March,  he  read  two  papers  on 
special  botanical  subjects  before  the  Linnaean  Society. 

The  village  of  Down 'is  fifteen  miles  south-east  of 
London,  four  miles  from  Orpington  station  on  the 
South-Eastern  Railway.  The  country  is  among  the 
most  beautiful  agricultural  suburbs  of  London,  and 
I  shall  never  forget  the  impression  of  peaceful,  quiet 
seclusion  experienced,  as  we  drove  from  the  station 


His  Appearance. 


and  finally  through  one  of  those  characteristic  Eng- 
lish lanes,  just  wide  enough  for  one  vehicle,  and 
worn  down  several  feet  below  the  general  level — the 
sense  of  confinement  being  enhanced  by  the  lux- 
uriant hedge  on  either  side.  This  lane  skirts  the 
orchard  wall  for  one  hundred  yards  and  then  goes  in 
front  of  the  house,  from  which  it  is  separated  by  a 
grass  plot  and  flint  wall  overgrown  with  ivy. 

The  Darwin  residence  is  a  plain,  but  spacious,  old- 
fashioned  house  of  the  style  so  common  in  England, 
and  which,  with  the  surrounding  well-kept  grounds 
and  conservatory,  conveys  that  impression  of  ease 
and  comfort  that  belong  to  the  average  home  of  the 
English  country-gentleman.  A  noticeable  feature 
is  a  bow  window  extending  through  three  stories 
and  covered  with  trellis  and  creepers.  In  Darwinian 
phrase,  the  environment  was  favourable  for  just  such 
calm  study  and  concentration  as  he  found  necessary 
to  his  health  and  his  researches. 

Upon  introduction  I  was  at  once  struck  with  his 
stature  (which  was  much  above  the  average,  and  I 
should  say  fully  six  feet),  his  ponderous  brow,  and 
long  white  beard — the  moustache  being  cut  on  a  line 
with  the  lips  and  slightly  brown  from  the  habit  of 
snuff-taking.  His  deep-set  eyes  were  light  blue-gray. 

He  made  the  impression  of  a  powerful  man  re- 
duced somewhat  by  sickness.  The  massive  brow 
and  forehead  show  in  his  later  photographs,  but  not 
so  conspicuously  as  in  a  life-size  head  of  him  when 
younger,  which  hung  in  the  parlour. 

In  the  brief  hours  I  then  spent  at  Down  the  pro- 
verbial modesty  and  singular  simplicity  and  sweet- 


240  Charles  Darwin. 

ness  of  his  character  were  apparent,  while  the  delight 
he  manifested  in  stating  facts  of  interest  was  excelled 
only  by  the  eagerness  with  which  he  sought  them  from 
others,  whether  while  strolling  through  the  green- 
house or  sitting  round  the  generously  spread  table. 

Going  to  him  as  a  young  entomologist  with  no 
claim  on  his  favour,  he  seemed  to  take  delight  in 
manifesting  appreciation.  I  had  occasion,  in  my 
"Third  Report  on  the  Insects  of  Missouri,"  pub- 
lished in  the  spring  of  that  year,  to  discuss  the  ques- 
tion of  natural  selection  in  its  bearings  on  mimicry, 
as  exemplified  in  two  of  our  North  American  but- 
terflies (Danais  archippus  and  Limenitis  disippus). 
This  report  I  found  in  his  study  with  many  leaves 
turned  down,  and  he  appeared  to  take  especial 
pleasure  in  conveying  a  sense  of  his  appreciation  of 
particular  parts. 

The  few  letters  which  I  received  from  Danvin  were 
in  his  own  handwriting,  which  was  rapid  and  better 
calculated  to  save  time  than  to  facilitate  the  reading. 
I  take  the  liberty  of  reproducing  here  the  first  and 
last  as  indicating  his  attitude  toward  all  workers  in 
the  field  of  natural  science,  however  humble  or  how- 
ever undeserving  of  his  praise  they  may  have  been  ; 
and  this  generous  trait  in  his  character  will  explain, 
in  some  measure,  the  stimulus  and  encouragement 
which  he  gave  to  investigators : 

DOWN, 
JUNE  i,  [1871.]  BECKENHAM,  KENT. 

MY  DEAR  SIR :  I  received  some  little  time  ago 
your  "  Report  on  Noxious  Insects,"  and  have  now 
read  the  whole  with  the  greatest  interest.  There  is 
a  vast  number  of  facts  and  generalisations  of  value 


Letters  to  Mr.  Riley.  241 


to  me,  and  I  am  struck  with  admiration  at  your 
power  of  observation.  The  discussion  on  mimetic 
insects  seems  to  me  particularly  good  and  original. 
Pray  accept  my  cordial  thanks  for  the  instruction 
and  interest  which  I  have  received. 

What  a  loss  to  natural  science  our  poor  mutual 
friend,  Walsh,  has  been :  it  is  a  loss  ever  to  be 
deplored. 

Pray  believe  me,  with  much  respect, 

Yours,  very  faithfully, 

CH.  DARWIN. 

DOWN, 

SEPTEMBER  28,  1881.  BECKENHAM,  KENT. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  RiLEY  :  I  must  write  half-a-dozen 
lines  to  say  how  much  interested  I  have  been  by 
your  "  Further  Notes  "  on  Pronuba,  which  you  were 
so  kind  as  to  send  me.  I  had  read  the  various 
criticisms,  and  though  I  did  not  know  what  answer 
would  be  made,  yet  I  felt  full  of  confidence  in  the 
result,  and  now  I  see  I  was  right.  .  .  . 

If  you  make  any  further  observation  on  Pronuba 
it  would,  I  think,  be  well  worth  while  for  you  to  ob- 
serve whether  the  moth  can  or  does  occasionally 
bring  pollen  from  one  plant  to  the  stigma  of  a 
distinct  one ;  for  I  have  shown  that  the  cross-fertili- 
sation of  the  flowers  on  the  same  plant  does  very 
little  good,  and,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  you  believe 
that  the  Pronuba  gathers  pollen  from  the  same 
flower  which  she  fertilises.* 


*  This  is  a  misapprehension.    Pronuba  is  an  effectual  cross-fertiliser, 
running  from  flower  to  flower,  and  often  flying  from  raceme  to  raceme 
with  one  and  the  same  load  of  pollen.     The  omitted  passages  in  this 
letter  refer  to  the  work  of  a  gentleman  still  living. 
16 


242  Charles  Darwin. 

What  interesting  and  beautiful  observations  you 
have  made  on  the  metamorphoses  of  the  grasshopper- 
destroying  insects ! 

Believe  me,  my  dear  sir, 

Yours  sincerely, 

CH.  DARWIN. 

My  own  experience  in  this  regard  is  the  common 
experience,  for  an  interest  in  natural  science  was  an 
open  sesame  to  his  generous  soul.  His  considera- 
tion, without  aggression,  was  the  secret  of  the  grati- 
tude and  respect  which  all  felt  who  had  the  honour 
to  know  him,  either  personally  or  through  corre- 
spondence. 

His  approval  of  the  work  of  others  was  coupled 
with  a  depreciation  of  his  own,  which  was  very 
marked  on  the  occasion  of  my  second  visit  to  Eu- 
rope, in  1875,  when  I  crossed  the  ocean  with  his  son 
Leonard  on  his  way  from  the  Transit  of  Venus  ex- 
pedition. "  Insectivorous  Plants  "  was  just  finished, 
and  Darwin  was  worn  and  in  feeble  health,  staying,  in 
fact,  at  Abinger  Hall  for  rest.  He  was  quite  dis- 
gusted with  the  book,  to  use  his  son's  expression, 
and  doubted  whether  it  could  prove  of  sufficient 
interest,  with  its  long  and  dry  records  of  experiments, 
to  be  read  by  anyone. 

DARWIN   AS   A   BOTANIST. 

BY  LESTER  F.   WARD,  A.M.,  LL.D., 

Hon.  Curator  Department  of  Fossil  Plants,  U.  S.  National  Museum  ;  Paleo- 
botanist  U.  S.  Geological  Survey. 

Appointed  by  the  committee  to  furnish  a  brief 
sketch    on   this   occasion    of    the    contributions    of 


As  a  Botanist.  243 


Charles  Darwin  to  the  science  of  plants,  I  have  pur- 
posely chosen  the  title,  "  Darwin  as  a  Botanist,"  in 
order  to  emphasise  the  contrast  which  may  be 
drawn  between  different  classes  of  botanists,  and  to 
do  what  I  can  to  accustom  the  public  mind  to  asso- 
ciate with  the  terms  botanist  and  botany  certain  great 
fields  of  investigation  which  are  now  rarely  sug- 
gested by  these  words. . 

If  I  had  entitled  my  paper :  Darwin's  researches 
into  the  phenomena  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  I 
fear  it  might  not  have  occurred  to  some  of  you  that 
this  great  investigator  was  a  botanist,  as  he  is  not 
generally  known  as  such.  Yet  I  fail  to  see  why  the 
science  of  botany  is  not  fully  entitled  to  receive  its 
share  of  the  dignity  and  the  lustre  which  Darwin's 
investigations  have  reflected  upon  biology  in  general. 

The  popular  idea  of  botany,  however,  is  very  dif- 
ferent from  this.  Not  ignorant  people  alone,  but 
scientific  men  as  well,  place  all  botanists  under 
two  general  classes  :  "  field  botanists  "  and  "  closet 
botanists." 

The  field  botanist  is  one  who,  being  passionately 
fond  of  plants,  and  having  mastered  the  rudiments 
of  botany  and  become  familiar  with  the  names  and 
classification  of  plants,  searches  the  country  for  new 
and  rare  species,  and  for  new  localities  for  old  ones, 
and  makes  large  collections.  Success  in  these  ob- 
jects is  his  triumph,  and  occasionally  becoming  the 
proud  discoverer  of  hitherto  unknown  forms  of 
vegetable  life,  he  finds  the  scientific  world  quick 
and  generous  in  awarding  him  due  credit. 

The  closet  botanist   is  one  who,  disdaining  the 


244  Charles  Darwin. 

boyish  pursuit  of  flowers,  devotes  himself  to  the 
study  of  the  characters  of  plants  as  revealed  by  the 
herbarium  specimens  which  the  field  botanist  so 
copiously  furnishes,  and  by  which  method  he,  too, 
can  discover  "  new  species,"  and  .obtain  prompt  rec- 
ognition. The  closet  botanist  performs  the  further 
useful  service  of  "  revising "  intricate  families  and 
genera  of  plants,  unravelling  the  entanglements  of 
previous  authors,  and  making  such  changes  in  the 
classification  and  names  as  are  best  suited  to  secure 
the  maximum  personal  credit. 

I  need  not  tell  this  audience  that  Charles  Darwin 
belonged  to  neither  of  these  classes  of  botanists.  A 
lover  of  nature,  he  yet  never  wasted  precious  time 
in  the  idle  pursuit  of  rarities.  Thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  distinctive  characters  upon  which  botanical 
classification  rests,  he  yet  never  pursued  to  any 
marked  extent  the  investigation  of  specimens  from 
the  hortus  siccus.  I  doubt  whether  a  single  species 
of  plant  was  ever  named  after  him  by  reason  of  his 
having  either  discovered  .it  in  a  wild  state  or  de- 
tected its  specific  distinctness  by  the  examination  of 
its  characters.  I  even  doubt  whether  he  possessed 
an  herbarium  in  the  accepted  sense  of  the  word. 

And  yet  this  man  has  probably  contributed  more 
to  our  real  knowledge  of  plants  than  any  other  single 
botanist. 

In  what,  then,  have  Darwin's  botanical  investiga- 
tions consisted  ? 

There  is  a  little  French  book  entitled  "Voyage 
d'un  Botaniste  dans  sa  Maison,"  a  title  which,  allow- 
ing for  the  characteristic  hyperbole  of  the  French 


Study  of  Plants.  245 


tongue,  suggests  the  general  nature  of  Darwin's 
botanical  studies.  His  researches  were  conducted  in 
his  laboratory,  in  pots  of  plants  at  his  window,  in 
his  aquarium,  in  his  greenhouse,  in  his  garden.  He 
worked  with  instruments  of  precision,  recorded  his 
observations  with  exactness,  and  employed  every 
mechanical  device  for  making  his  results  reveal  im- 
portant truths  of  which  the  genius  of  man  would 
seem  to  be  capable. 

Darwin  looked  upon  plants  as  living  things.  He 
did  not  study  their  forms  so  much  as  their  actions. 
He  interrogated  them  to  learn  what  they  were  doing. 

The  central  truth,  towards  which  his  botanical  in- 
vestigations constantly  tended,  was  that  of  the  uni- 
versal activity  of  the  vegetable  kingdom — that  all 
plants  move  and  act.  He  has,  so  to  speak,  animated 
the  vegetable  world.  He  has  shown  that  whichever 
kingdom  of  organic  nature  we  contemplate,  to  live 
is  to  move. 

He  blandly  rebukes  the  vulgar  notion  that  "plants 
are  distinguished  from  animals  by  not  having  the 
power  of  movement,"  and  still  more  modestly  says 
that  "  plants  acquire  and  display  this  power  only 
when  it  is  of  some  advantage  to  them."  But  is 
this  the  whole  ?  Do  animals  display  this  power 
except  when  it  is  of  some  advantage  to  them  ? 
Certainly  not. 

Darwin  shows  us  that  certain  parts  of  all  plants 
are  at  all  times  in  motion ;  not  merely  the  molecu- 
lar activities  of  their  tissues  and  of  the  living  pro- 
toplasm in  their  cells,  but  organised  movement  of 
parts.  Every  leaf,  every  tendril,  every  rootlet,  pos- 


246  Charles  Darwin. 

sesses  the  power  of  spontaneous  movement,  and 
under  nearly  all  circumstances  actually  exercises 
that  power. 

There  are  a  great  many  distinct  kinds  of  move- 
ment, depending  in  all  cases  upon  the  special  ad- 
vantages thereby  gained  to  the  plant.  The  laws 
under  which  these  movements  take  place  have  re- 
ceived from  him  an  admirable  terminology.  Most 
of  them  are  conditioned  either  by  light,  by  gravity, 
by  radiation,  or  by  insect  agency. 

We  thus  have  of  the  first  class  :  heliotropism,  or 
movement  towards  the  light  ;  apheliotropism,  or 
movement  from  the  light  ;  diaheliotropism,  or  move- 
ment at  right  angles  to  the  source  of  light ;  and 
paraheliotropism,  embracing  such  movements  as 
screen  the  plant  from  excess  of  light. 

To  the  second  class  belong :  geotropism,  or  move- 
ment towards  the  earth  or  into  the  soil ;  apogeo- 
tropism,  or  movement  contrary  to  the  force  of 
gravity ;  and  diageotropism,  or  movement  at  right 
angles  to  the  force  of  gravity. 

The  third  class  embraces  the  so-called  nyctotropic 
movements  of  plants  by  which  they  appear  to  sleep, 
and  which  prove  to  be  devices  for  the  prevention  of 
excessive  radiation  of  the  plants'  heat. 

Under  the  fourth  class  fall  all  those  wonderful 
movements  which  aid  the  plant  in  preventing  self- 
and  securing  cross-fertilisation,  a  subject  of  the  most 
absorbing  interest,  and  of  which  you  have  already 
listened  to  so  able  a  presentation  by  Professor  Riley 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  entomologist. 

But  Darwin's  great  service  has  been  to  show  that 


Circumnutation.  247 

these  varieties  of  activity  are  simply  modes  in 
which  inherent  and  spontaneous  activities  manifest 
themselves  under  these  varying  external  influences. 

His  preliminary  investigations  into  the  nature  of 
these  innate  powers  of  movement  were  directed  to 
that  large  class  of  plants  known  as  twiners  and 
climbers,  whose  revolving  motions  were  so  thor- 
oughly described  in  his  work  on  "  Climbing  Plants." 
It  was  here  that  he  laid  the  foundation  for  those 
later  studies  which  eventually  resulted  in  that  great 
work,  almost  his  last,  on  the  "  Power  of  Movement 
in  Plants."  In  this  work  he  demonstrates  by  an 
enormous  induction  that  the  ample  sweeps  of  the 
twining  plant  are  but  the  most  obvious  manifesta- 
tions of  a  class  of  phenomena  which  are  common  to 
the  entire  vegetable  kingdom. 

Amid  the  varied  forms  of  movement  which  plants 
present,  Darwin  has  succeeded  in  rinding  one  funda- 
mental and  generic  one  to  which  every  other  may 
be  referred.  To  this  universal  form  of  plant  activity 
he  gives  the  name  "  circumnutation."  Not  only 
twining  stems  and  tendrils,  but  parts  of  flowers,  tips 
of  growing  shoots,  caps  of  penetrating  roots  and 
rootlets,  radicles,  epicotyls,  cotyledons,  and  even 
full-grown  leaves,  are  incessantly  describing  circles, 
ellipses,  and  other  more  or  less  regular  geometrical 
figures ;  and  he  conclusively  shows  that  it  is  out  of 
this  primary  form  of  activity  that  all  the  more 
specialised  forms  already  mentioned  have  been  de- 
veloped. All  movements  of  the  parts  of  plants  are 
thus  to  be  interpreted  as  modified  forms  of  this 
innate  periodic  circumnutation  which  is  common  to 


248  Charles  Darwin. 

all  plant  life.  Such  modifications  are  always  in  the 
direction  of  the  plant's  advantage,  and  may  be  so 
great  as  to  become  difficult  of  recognition  as  forms 
of  circumnutation. 

I  need  not  labour  to  convince  you  that  any  modi- 
fication which  is  an  advantage  to  the  plant  will  be 
secured  by  the  process  of  natural  selection.  It  is  the 
glory  of  the  great  genius  whose  labours  we  are  here 
to  commemorate  to  have  demonstrated  this  truth  to 
the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  united  scientific  world. 

Darwin  has  actually  solved  the  great  problem  of 
phytology,  so  long  supposed  to  be  incapable  of  solu- 
tion, viz.:  Why  does  the  root  grow  downward  and 
the  stem  upward  ?  Briefly  and  roughly  stated,  the 
answer  to  this  question  is  that,  as  the  bursting  seed 
pushes  out  its  two  germinal  points  these  circumnu- 
tate  from  the  first,  and  thus  explore  their  surround- 
ings for  the  means  of  benefiting  the  plant.  To 
employ  Darwin's  own  word,  they  "  perceive "  the 
advantage  that  would  result  from  the  penetration  of 
the  soil  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  the  ascent  into 
the  free  air  and  sunlight  on  the  other,  and  through 
the  pre-Darwinian  law  of  the  "  physiological  division 
of  labour,"  the  one  becomes  geotropic  and  the  other 
heliotropic — the  one  develops  into  a  radicle  and 
then  into  a  root,  while  the  other  develops  into  an 
epicotyl  and  then  into  a  stem. 

I  will  only  add  to  the  thoughts  already  presented, 
that  Darwin's  discovery  of  the  existence  in  all  plants 
of  an  innate  and  spontaneous  mobility  belonging  to 
them  as  forms  of  organic  life  possesses  an  important 
ulterior  significance. 


Tendency  to  Vary.  249 

The  law  of  natural  selection,  as  a  fundamental 
process,  has  long  since  passed  the  stage  of  discussion. 
But  there  has  always  remained  one  unsettled  ques- 
tion lying  at  its  very  base,  which  Darwin  himself 
admitted  to  be  an  open  one.  That  question  con- 
cerns the  cause  itself  of  variation.  It  is  granted 
that,  admitting  the  tendency  to  vary,  all  the  results 
claimed  for  natural  selection  must  follow ;  but  many 
declare  that,  in  this  very  tendency  to  vary,  there  is  a 
mystery  as  great  as  the  mystery  of  life  itself. 

It  is  only  in  this  work  on  the  "  Power  of  Move- 
ment in  Plants  "  that  Darwin  has  really  assailed  this 
last  fortress  of  supernaturalism.  Not  that  he  has 
avowed  any  such  purpose,  for  of  this  he  would  have 
been  incapable,  but  so  skilfully  and  so  powerfully 
has  he  marshalled  the  facts  that  the  conclusion  fol- 
lows without  being  stated.  No  one  can  doubt  that 
he  perceived  this,  and  I,  for  one,  am  convinced  that 
he  saw  it  from  afar,  and  that  it  was  the  great  end  of 
his  labours  ;  but  with  his  characteristic  wisdom  he  has 
declined  to  invoke  the  odium  theologicum,  correctly 
judging  that  the  truth  must  ultimately  assert  itself. 

The  tendency  to  vary,  then,  is  a  mechanical  result 
of  the  proved  fact  of  universal  movement  coupled 
with  the  admitted  law  of  natural  selection.  By 
means  of  the  former  all  plants  and  growing  parts  of 
plants  are  perpetually  exploring  their  immediate 
surroundings  in  search,  as  it  were,  for  conditions 
favourable  to  development.  By  means  of  the  latter 
they  are  able  to  avail  themselves  of  such  favourable 
conditions  when  found.  Nothing  further  than  this 
is  required  to  complete  the. natural  explanation  of  all 


250  Charles  Darwin. 

the  phenomena  presented  by  the  organic  world,  and 
thus,  at  last,  the  whole  domain  of  biology  is  eman- 
cipated from  teleological  fetters,  and  placed  on  the 
high  plane  of  rational  investigation. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  simply  say  that,  while  we 
can  but  deeply  mourn  the  irreparable  loss  which 
science  has  sustained  in  the  death  of  Charles  Dar- 
win, we  have  still  the  highest  grounds  for  congratu- 
lation in  the  fact  that  he  lived  to  complete  that 
great  work  which,  next  to  the  "  Origin  of  Species," 
will,  I  firmly  believe,  be  awarded  by  posterity  the 
highest  place,  viz. :  "  The  Power  of  Movement  in 
Plants  " ;  for,  while  the  former  auspiciously  opened 
the  great  debate  by  stating  the  profoundest  of  all 
biological  problems,  the  latter  has  fittingly  closed  the 
argument  by  answering  the  last  objection. 

DARWIN  ON  THE  EXPRESSION  OF  THE  EMOTIONS. 
BY  FRANK  BAKER,  M.D. 

From  the  tendency  of  the  imagination  to  magnify 
the  unknown  and  remote,  arises  a  popular  error  that 
to  attain  eminence  a  man  of  science  must  be  able  to 
gather  facts  from  great  distances — from  the  sources 
of  the  Nile,  and  from  polar  snows.  But  the  near  and 
commonplace  are  subject  to  the  same  laws  as  the 
atoms  of  interstellar  space,  and  true  scientific  insight 
may  discover  in  the  very  dust  under  our  feet  secrets 
hitherto  concealed. 

Darwin's  work  upon  the  "  Expression  of  the  Emo- 
tions "  is  continuous  with  and  supplementary  to  his 
larger  and  better-known  treatise  on  the  "  Descent  of 


Emotional  Expression.  251 

Man."  As  with  other  matter  bearing  directly  upon 
the  development  hypothesis,  its  publication  was  de- 
ferred as  long  as  possible,  in  order  that  the  evidence 
might  be  fully  weighed.  Projected  in  1838,  it  was 
not  published  until  thirty-five  years  later.  One  class 
of  objections  to  the  hypothesis  was  not  considered 
in  the  main  work.  It  was  generally  held  that,  by  his 
emotional  expression,  man  was  widely  separated 
from  the  lower  animals.  The  eminent  anatomist, 
Duchenne,  who  remains  to-day  the  best  authority  on 
muscular  movements,  merely  expressed  the  views 
of  the  time  when  he  stated  that  no  cause  could  be 
assigned  for  facial  expression,  except  the  "  divine 
fantasy"  of  the  Great  Artificer. 

Having  projected  his  work,  how  does  Darwin  pro- 
ceed ?  From  the  gentlemen  who  have  preceded  me 
you  have  learned  of  his  methods.  To  test  the  truth 
of  his  conceptions  he  commences  a  series  of  most 
minute  and  careful  observations,  omitting  nothing 
within  his  reach.  His  most  important  field  is  that 
which  is  nearest ;  his  own  children,  his  friends  and 
companions,  even  the  dogs  that  accompany  his  daily 
walks,  come  under  that  powerful  scrutiny.  Where, 
indeed,  can  we  find  so  perfect  an  observer?  The 
calm  sanity  of  his  mind  keeps  him  equally  aloof  from 
egotism  and  from  self-depreciation.  A  fact  is  a  fact, 
to  be  stated  with  the  fairness  and  openness  of  per- 
fect daylight.  Here  is  a  man  who  cares  more  for  the 
truth  than  for  -himself.  The  black  spot  in  man's 
sunshine,  the  shadow  of  himself,  seems  non-existent 
for  him.  He  stands  by  his  work,  that  is  enough  ;  if 
it  has  worth,  well— if  not,  still  well ;  the  elemental 


252  Charles  Darwin. 

drift  of  action  and  reaction  will  continue,  the  out- 
come will  still  be  good.  As  Carlyle  has  said,  "  A 
noble  unconsciousness  is  in  him.  He  does  not  en- 
grave truth  on  his  watch-seal ;  no,  but  he  stands  by 
truth,  speaks  by  it,  works  and  lives  by  it." 

But  not  as  a  fact  gatherer  do  we  find  him  greatest. 
Many  others,  have  struggled  with  ant-like  toil  to 
amass  piles  of  facts  which,  like  the  ant-heap,  remain- 
but  sand  after  all.  Darwin  brings  to  his  work  an  in- 
forming spirit,  the  genius  of  scientific  hypothesis. 
Breathed  upon  by  this  spirit,  the  dry  bones  of  fact 
come  together  "  bone  to  his  bone,"  the  sinews  and 
the  flesh  come  upon  them,  they  become  alive  and 
stand  upon  their  feet  "an  exceeding  great  army." 
He  searches  always  for  the  principles  which  underlie 
the  facts  and  make  them  possible,  realising  that  the 
phenomena,  the  things  which  are  seen,  are  temporal 
and  transitory ;  the  things  which  are  not  seen,  the 
cosmical  forces  which  govern  and  control,  are  eternal. 

In  his  examination  of  the  expression  of  the  emo- 
tions he  found  that  both  in  man  and  animals  they 
can  be  referred  to  three  general  principles  which  may 
be  termed  habit,  antithesis,  and  nervous  overflow. 
By  habit,  or  repetition,  serviceable  movements  be- 
come fixed — involuntary,  or  semi-voluntary.  By 
antithesis,  opposite  frames  of  mind  are  expressed  by 
opposite  actions,  even  though  those  actions  may  not 
be  serviceable.  The  theory  of  nervous  overflow  is 
that  unusual  quantities  of  force  generated  by  the 
cerebro-spinal  system  are  discharged  by  unusual 
channels  of  expression  when  the  ordinary  channels 
are  insufficient. 


Expressions  of  Grief.  253 


He  finds  that  emotional  expressions  are  generally 
direct  consequences  of  anatomical  structure,  and 
clearly  shows  the  interdependence  of  anatomy  and 
physiology.  For  structure  can  no  more  be  divorced 
from  function  than  matter  can  be  dissociated  from 
force.  All  the  complex  expressions  of  grief — from 
the  twitching  of  the  eyelids  and  mouth  to  the  shed- 
ding of  tears — he  has  shown  to  depend  upon  the 
necessity  for  preventing  engorgement  of  the  eyes 
during  screaming,  an  act  originally  useful  solely  to 
attract  attention.  The  steps  by  which  he  arrived  at 
this  conclusion  are  typical  of  his  method.  Starting 
first  with  animals,  he  finds  that  their  expressions  of 
grief  are  much  less  complex  and  various  than  those 
of  man.  They  are  confined  to  noises,  such  as  scream- 
ing, barking,  whining,  in  higher  forms  accompanied 
by  changes  in  facial  expression,  particularly  by  con- 
traction of  the  muscles  surrounding  the  eye.  There 
is  a  physiological  necessity  for  this,  as  otherwise  the 
expiratory  effort  caused  by  screaming  might  engorge 
and  rupture  the  small  ocular  blood-vessels.  By  press- 
ing on  the  lachrymal  gland  this  causes,  in  some  of 
the  higher  animals,  a  flow  of  tears.  What  at  first 
was  accidental,  merely  occasioned  by  the  proximity 
of  the  gland,  becomes  at  last  habitual,  and  the  nerv- 
ous force  automatically  follows  the  line  of  its  accus- 
tomed action,  causing  a  flow  of  tears  after  emotional 
excitement,  even  though  no  screaming  take  place. 
The  correctness  of  this  view  is  supported  by  the  fact 
that  infants  do  not  shed  tears  until  several  weeks 
old,  although  they  scream  violently.  The  functional 
activity  of  the  lachrymal  gland,  in  connection  with 


254  Charles  Darwin. 

grief,  is,  therefore,  later  in  phylogenetic  develop- 
ment. The  laws  of  heredity  and  adaptation  are 
found  to  be  operating  here,  as  elsewhere,  in  the 
domain  of  life ;  the  supposed  gap  between  the  emo- 
tions of  man  and  of  other  animals  is  successfully 
bridged  over,  and  another  anthropocentric  fallacy  is 
consigned  to  the  limbo  of  ignorant  superstitions. 

Many  expressions  of  the  lower  emotions  are  found 
to  be  disfiguring  vestiges  of  acts  useful  to  lower 
animals  for  offence  and  defence,  or  for  obtaining 
food.  These  survive — relics  of  the  previous  history 
of  our  race — as  rudimentary  organs  are  preserved 
long  after  their  use  has  ceased.  The  erection  of  the 
hair  during  fear  is  remotely  derived  from  the  same 
cause  that  makes  puss  bristle  when  attacked  and  the 
puff  adder  swell  out  when  approached.  Originally 
used  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  fear  in  an  enemy  by 
an  increase  of  size,  it  now  involuntarily  accompanies 
the  somewhat  changed  emotion  of  which  some  of  the 
phases  are  extinct.  It  is  not  very  rare  to  find  per- 
sons who  can  make  the  hair  over  the  front  of  the 
head  bristle  at  will.  Rage  is  habitually  expressed  by 
uncovering  the  teeth,  which  is,  in  the  lower  animals, 
an  attempt  to  frighten  their  enemies  by  a  show  of 
weapons.  This  expression  may  become  softened 
and  modified  to  express  the  milder  emotions  of  con- 
tempt and  disdain.  I  have  met  a  lady  who  has  to 
perfection  the  rather  rare  accomplishment  mentioned 
by  Danvin  of  drawing  up  the  upper  lip  in  a  triangu 
lar  notch  directly  over  the  canine  teeth  so  as  to  dis- 
play them  alone,  usually  on  one  side  at  a  time. 
This  most  expressive  gesture  of  disdain  can  be  per- 


Blushing.  255 


formed  under  the  influence  of  the  emotions  by  many 
who  cannot  do  it  at  will. 

Of  an  opposite  class  are  certain  higher  expressions, 
which,  having  arisen  later,  are  not  yet  entirely  fixed. 
Blushing  is  one  of  the  most  curious  of  these.  It  is 
not  found  in  infants,  and  varies  greatly  in  frequency 
and  amount  in  adults,  accompanying  the  sentiment 
of  modesty,  almost  unknown  among  animals.  The 
reddening  is  usually  confined  to  the  face  and  neck. 
Darwin  suggests  an  ingenious  explanation  for  this. 
The  blood-vessels  most  exposed  to  variations  of  tem- 
perature acquire  the  habit  of  expanding  and  contract- 
ing— their  vaso-motor  nerves  become  more  sensitive. 
The  chief  expression  of  personal  appearance  is  in  the 
face  ;  the  attention  of  the  mind  is,  therefore,  directed 
there  whenever  the  emotion  of  modesty  is  aroused. 
This  interferes  with  the  ordinary  tonic  contraction 
of  the  blood-vessels,  and  an  excess  of  blood  suffuses 
the  surface. 

A  remarkable  confirmation  of  Darwin's  views  is 
the  recent  discovery  of  localised  centres  in  the  brain 
which  control  emotional  expression,  and  exist  in 
animals  as  well  as  in  man.  It  may  some  time  be 
possible  to  read  the  currents  and  counter-currents  of 
the  brain  by  means  of  feature-play  with  a  precision 
approaching  that  by  which  we  estimate  the  force  of 
a  distant  battery  by  the  play  of  a  galvanometer 
needle.  Many  phenomena  of  expression,  which 
were  obscure  before  this  discovery,  can  now  be  satis- 
factorily  explained.  Among  these  are  the  phenom- 
ena of  associated  movements.  It  has  been  stated 
that  the  variety  and  complexity  of  the  movements 


256  Charles  Darwin. 

involved  in  the  simple  act  of  walking  are  such  that  it 
would  be  impossible  ever  to  perform  it  were  it 
necessary  to  think  what  had  to  be  done,  and  weigh 
in  the  judgment  the  precise  amount  of  force  neces- 
sary to  distribute  to  each  muscle  at  each  moment  of 
the  act.  It  is  now  known  that  the  cerebral  centres 
which  control  the  separate  muscles  put  in  action  are 
closely  contiguous  in  the  brain,  and  that  they  prob- 
ably intercommunicate  and  excite  each  other  in  a 
definite  manner,  predetermined  by  habit  and  hered- 
ity. The  conscious  mind  has  only  to  set  in  motion 
the  subordinate  apparatus,  when  it  goes  on,  and 
works  out  the  problem  with  matchless  skill,  like  the 
system  of  cogs  and  eccentrics  that  produce  the  intri- 
cate pattern  in  an  engraver's  lathe.  All  have  noticed 
the  uncouth  manner  in  which  children  and  untrained 
persons  follow  with  lips  and  tongue  the  motions  of 
their  hands  when  using  a  tool  of  any  kind.  Darwin 
ascribes  this  to  unconscious  imitation,  but  it  can  be 
explained  more  strictly  in  accordance  with  his  own 
principles.  The  facial  muscles  are  actuated  from  a 
cerebral  centre  in  close  proximity  to  those  which 
move  the  arms  and  hands.  In  the  lower  animals  this 
is  necessary,  for  the  mouth  is  an  organ  of  prehension, 
used  in  strict  association  with  the  fore-limbs  in  seiz- 
ing prey,  and  in  other  acts.  As  this  associated  move- 
ment became  strongly  fixed  by  long  habit,  it  survives 
with  greac  obstinacy,  and  though  it  has  not  been 
useful  to  the  race  since  the  historical  period,  we  have 
yet  to  caution  our  children  not  to  put  their  tongues 
out  when  they  write. 

My  limit  of  time  forces  me  to  conclude  this  hasty 
and  imperfect  summary.     The  practical  bearing  of 


The  ' '  Power  of  Leasts. "  257 

these  views  is  not  without  importance.  Physicians 
have  always  depended  greatly  upon  emotional  ex- 
pression as  a  means  of  diagnosis.  Unconsciously 
the  face  of  the  patient  reveals  his  physical  state. 
Yet  too  much  has  been  left  in  the  empirical  border- 
land of  science.  Why  a  certain  pathological  state 
should  be  indicated  by  a  definite  combination  of  ex- 
pressions has  not  always  been  clearly  shown.  To-day 
the  whole  subject  is  studied  from  the  point  of  view 
of  anatomy  and  physiology.  No  occult  force  is  ad- 
mitted, the  correlative  nerve-supply  of  muscles  and 
the  effect  of  excitation  of  nerve-centres  are  rationally 
investigated. 

Aside  from  the  great  special  value  of  the  work,  of 
what  tremendous  import  to  the  race  are  Darwin's 
deductions !  For  he  has  shown  us  that  our  every 
thought  and  act  mould  our  physical  frames,  and 
through  them  the  generations  yet  unborn,  either  to 
beauty  and  grace,  or  to  uncouth  ugliness  and  de- 
formity. As  the  struggle  for  existence  filled  the  rocks 
with  organisms  forever  extinct,  because  not  for  the 
highest  use,  so  may  we,  too,  fossilise  and  outgrow 
habits  and  desires  of  ignoble  birth,  ascending  by  the 
11  power  of  leasts,"  by  that  wondrous  calculus  of  na- 
ture, to  purer  and  nobler  existence.  Darwin  has 
taught  us  that  the  forces  which,  acting  through  count- 
less cycles,  have  brought  us  up  from  formless  slime, 
now  remain  in  our  hands  to  use  for  good  or  ill — 

"  That  life  is  not  as  idle  ore, 
But  iron  dug  from  central  gloom, 
And  heated  hot  with  burning  fears, 
And  dipt  in  baths  of  hissing  tears, 
And  battered  with  the  shocks  of  doom 
For  shape  and  use." 


258  Charles  Darwin. 

A  DARWINIAN  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
BY  FREDERICK  W.  TRUE,  M.S., 

Librarian  of  the  U.  S.  National  Museum,  and  Curator  of  Department  of 
Mammals. 

The  complete  bibliography  of  Darwinism  should 
contain,  not  alone  the  works  which  emanated  from 
the  busy  brain  and  ready  pen  of  Darwin  himself,  but 
the  many  other  productions  which  these  called  into 
life.  The  acquiescences  of  friends,  the  objections  of 
critics,  the  censures  of  foes,  should  all  be  enrolled  in 
their  proper  places  as  representing  the  ripples  and 
counter-ripples  in  the  sea  of  thought,  produced  by 
the  weighty  ideas  which  dropped  from  the  clear 
mind  of  the  philosopher.  It  is  not  to  the  merits  of 
these,  however,  that  I  can  call  your  attention,  but 
only  to  a  few  facts  relative  to  the  books  of  Darwin 
himself. 

I  would  not  have  you  suppose,  if  indeed  one 
could,  after  the  lucid  remarks  to  which  you  have 
listened,  that  the  faulty — and,  I  fear,  almost  indis- 
cernible— list  of  published  works,  which  I  have 
attempted  to  exhibit  before  you,  reveals  more  than 
a  moiety  of  Darwin's  writings.*  A  large  number  of 
comprehensive  papers,  pregnant  notes,  and  incisive 
queries  are  contained  in  those  storehouses  of  pre- 
cise knowledge,  the  journals  of  science,  and  the  pub- 
lications of  learned  societies.  During  more  than  half 
a  century,  from  the  beginning  of  Darwin's  career 
to  its  very  close,  scarcely  a  year  passed  in  which  a 

*  The  speaker  referred  to  two  large  scrolls  hanging  on  the  lecture- 
room  walls,  upon  which  were  inscribed  a  list  of  Darwin's  most  im- 
portant publications, 


Bibliography.  259 


number  of  articles  did  not  issue  from  his  pen.  His 
first  paper,  on  the  Ova  of  Flustra,  and  another  of 
similar  nature  were  read  before  the  Plinian  Society 
of  Edinburgh  in  1825.  His  last  note,  on  the  Dis- 
tribution of  Fresh-Water  Bivalves,  appeared  in  Na- 
ture but  a  few  days  before  his  death. 

During  the  first  twenty-five  years  the  articles 
have  mostly  a  geological  and  zoological  bearing,  but 
later  botanical  and  anthropological  subjects  come 
into  prominence.  They  were  contributed  to  many 
publications,  including  a  few  American,  German,  and 
French  journals.  The  mass  of  papers,  however,  are 
to  be  found  in  the  Proceedings  and  Transactions 
of  the  Geological  Society  of  London,  the  Philo- 
sophical Transactions,  the  Philosophical  Magazine, 
the  Annals  and  Magazine  of  Natural  History,  and 
Nature. 

It  is  in  these  papers  that  we  first  find  the  germs 
of  many  of  those  more  elaborate  works  to  which 
general  attention  has  been  attracted.  Thus  the 
works  on  the  "  Origin  of  Species,"  the  "  Fertilisa- 
tion of  Plants  by  Insects,"  the  "  Action  of  Earth- 
Worms,"  and  others,  were  foreshadowed  at  a  time 
considerably  antedating  their  final  appearance. 

Darwin  seemed  to  prefer  to  work  out  and  write 
out  his  ideas  alone.  Once  at  least,  however,  he 
shared  the  toil  with  his  friend,  Mr.  Wallace,  and 
later,  in  several  instances,  with  his  sons  Francis  and 
George  Darwin. 

Regarding  the  separately  published  works  of  Dar- 
win there  is  much  of  interest  from  the  bibliographi- 
cal point  of  view.  The  conscientiousness  with  which 


260  Charles  Darwin. 

the  author  profited  by  the  criticisms  of  others,  revis- 
ing, improving,  and  extending  his  generalisations, 
makes  each  new  edition  seem  like  a  separate  pro- 
duction. Whole  chapters  were  stricken  out  and 
new  ones  inserted ;  facts  of  doubtful  character  were 
replaced  by  others  of  a  more  positive  nature  and 
more  recent  acquisition. 

Time  forbids  that  I  should  refer  to  the  details  of 
publication  of  more  than  one  work.  The  inquiring 
student  will  find  his  wants  satisfied  in  the  several 
lists  which  have  already  been  published. 

I  will  give  the  history  of  but  one  work,  the  most 
important  of  all,  the  "  Origin  of  Species  by  Means 
of  Natural  Selection."  The  first  edition  of  this  work 
received  the  signature  of  the  author  on  November 
24,  1859,  an^  was  published  the  same  year.  The 
second  edition,  which  appeared  soon  after,  "  was 
little  more  than  a  reprint  of  the  first."  "  The  third 
edition  was  largely  corrected  and  added  to,  and  the 
fourth  and  fifth  still  more  largely."  The  sixth  edi- 
tion, which  appeared  in  1872,  was  likewise  largely 
amended,  and  had  reached  its  twenty  thousand  in 
1878.  In  the  meantime  foreign  editions  and  trans- 
lations began  to  appear.  The  American  and  French 
editions  at  first  kept  pace  with  the  English,  the  sec- 
ond American  being  from  the  second  English,  and 
the  third  French  from  the  third  English.  The  Ger- 
mans, coming  in  a  little  later,  published  their  second 
edition  from  the  third  English,  and  their  third 
from  the  fourth  English  one.  The  last  editions  in  all 
these  languages  were  derived,  I  believe,  from  the 
sixth  English  one.  "  The  Italian  is  from  the  third, 


Bibliography.  261 


the  Dutch  and  three  Russian  editions  from  the  sec- 
ond English  editions,  and  the  Swedish  from  the  fifth 
English  edition." 

At  least  twelve  of  the  more  important  works 
have  been  issued  in  one  or  more  editions  in  Ger- 
man and  French,  and  a  number  in  other  European 
languages  as  well. 

The  sage  of  Down  was  undoubtedly  honest  in  his 
surprise  at  the  ever-extending  circle  of  his  influence. 
A  wider  and  more  intelligent  audience  could  scarcely 
be  desired.  The  number  of  books  in  which  his 
opinions  are  discussed  or  alluded  to  is  legion.  As 
the  illustrious  Asa  Gray  has  remarked :  "  Dante 
literature  and  Shakespeare  literature  have  been  the 
growth  of  centuries,  but  Darwinism  filled  teeming 
catalogues  during  the  lifetime  of  the  author." 


APPENDIX. 


LIST  OF  WORKS  BY  CHARLES  DARWIN. 

Narrative  of  the  Surveying  Voyages  of  her  Majesty's  Ships  Adven- 
ture and  Beagle  between  the  years  1826  and  1836,  describing  their 
examination  of  the  southern  shores  of  South  America,  and  the 
Beagle  s  circumnavigation  of  the  globe.  Vol.  iii.,  Journal  and  Re- 
marks, 1832-36.  By  Charles  Darwin.  8vo.  London,  1839. 

Journal  of  Researches  into  the  Natural  History  and  Geology  of  the 
countries  visited  during  the  voyage  of  H.  M.  S.  Beagle  round  the 
world,  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Fitz-Roy,  R.  N.  2d  edition, 
corrected,  with  additions.  8vo.  London,  1845.  (Colonial  and  Home 
Library.) 

A  Naturalist's  Voyage.  Journal  of  Researches,  etc.  8vo.  London, 
1860.  [Contains  a  postscript  dated  Feb.  I,  1860.] 

Zoology  of  the  Voyage  of  H.  M.  S.  Beagle.  Edited  and  superin- 
tended by  Charles  Darwin.  Part  I.,  Fossil  Mammalia,  by  Richard 
Owen.  With  a  Geological  Introduction,  by  Charles  Darwin.  4to. 
London,  1840. 

Zoology  of  the  Voyage  of  H.  M.  S.  Beagle.  Part  II.,  Mammalia, 
by  George  R.  Waterhouse.  With  a  Notice  of  their  Habits  and  Ranges, 
by  Charles  Darwin.  4to.  London,  1839. 

Zoology  of  the  Voyage  of  H.  M.  S.  Beagle.  Part  III.,  Birds,  by 
John  Gould.  An  "  Advertisement "  (2  pp.)  states  that,  in  conse- 
quence of  Mr.  Gould's  having  left  England  for  Australia,  many 
descriptions  were  supplied  by  Mr.  G.  R.  Gray  of  the  British  Museum. 
4to.  London,  1841. 

Zoology  of  the  Voyage  of  H.  M.  S.  Beagle.     Part  IV.,   Fish,  by 
Rev.  Leonard  Jenyns.     4to.     London,  1842. 
263 


264  Charles  Darwin. 

Zo6logy  of  the  Voyage  of  H.  M.  S.  Beagle.  Part  V.,  Reptiles, 
by  Thomas  Bell.  4to.  London,  1843. 

The  Structure  and  Distribution  of  Coral  Reefs.  Being  the  First 
Part  of  the  Geology  of  the  Voyage  of  the  Beagle.  8vo.  London, 
1842. 

The  Structure  and  Distribution  of  Coral  Reefs.  2d  edition.  8vo. 
London, 1874. 

Geological  Observations  on  the  Volcanic  Islands  visited  during 
the  Voyage  of  H.  M.  S.  Beagle.  Being  the  Second  Part  of  the 
Geology  of  the  Voyage  of  the  Beagle.  8vo.  London,  1844. 

Geological  Observations  on  South  America.  Being  the  Third  Part 
of  the  Geology  of  the  Voyage  of  the  Beagle.  8vo.  London,  1846. 

Geological  Observations  on  the  Volcanic  Islands  and  parts  of 
South  America  visited  during  the  Voyage  of  H.  M.  S.  Beagle.  2d 
edition.  8vo.  London,  1876. 

A  Monograph  of  the  Fossil  Lepadidae  ;  or,  Pedunculated  Cir- 
ripedes  of  Great  Britain.  410.  London,  1851.  (Palasontographical 
Society.) 

A  Monograph  of  the  Sub-class  Cirripedia,  with  Figures  of  all  the 
Species.  The  Lepadidae  ;  or,  Pedunculated  Cirripedes.  8vo.  Lon- 
don, 1851.  (Ray  Society.) 

A  Monograph  of  the  Sub-class  Cirripedia,  with  Figures  of  all  the 
Species.  The  Balanidee  (or  Sessile  Cirripedes)  ;  the  Verrucidae,  etc. 
8vo.  London,  1854.  (Ray  Society.) 

A  Monograph  of  the  Fossil  Balanidae  and  Verrucidae  of  Great 
Britain.  410.  London,  1854.  (Palaeontographical  Society.) 

On  the  Origin  of  Species  by  Means  of  Natural  Selection,  or  the 
Preservation  of  Favoured  Races  in  the  Struggle  for  Life.  8vo.  Lon- 
don, 1859.  (Dated  October  i,  1859,  published  November  24,  1859.) 

On  the  Origin  of  Species  by  means  of  Natural  Selection,  or  the 
Preservation  of  Favoured  Races  in  the  Struggle  for  Life.  Fifth 
thousand.  8vo.  London,  1860. 

On  the  Origin  of  Species  by  Means  of  Natural  Selection,  or  the 
Preservation  of  Favoured  Races  in  the  Struggle  for  Life.  3d  edition, 
with  additions  and  corrections.  (Seventh  thousand.)  8vo.  London, 
1861.  (Dated  March,  1861.) 

On  the  Origin  of  Species  by  Means  of  Natural  Selection,  or  the 
Preservation  of  Favoured  Races  in  the  Struggle  for  Life.  4th 
edition,  with  additions  and  corrections.  (Eighth  thousand.)  8vo. 
London  1866.  (Dated  June,  1866.) 


Appendix.  265 


On  the  Origin  of  Species  by  Means  of  Natural  Selection,  or  the 
Preservation  of  Favoured  Races  in  the  Struggle  for  Life.  5th 
edition,  with  additions  and  corrections.  (Tenth  thousand.)  8vo. 
London,  1869.  (Dated  May,  1869.) 

On  the  Origin  of  Species  by  Means  of  Natural  Selection,  or  the 
Preservation  of  Favoured  Races  in  the  Struggle  for  Life.  6th 
edition,  with  additions  and  corrections  to  1872.  (Twenty-fourth 
thousand.)  8vo.  London,  1882.  (Dated  January,  1872.) 

On  the  Various  Contrivances  by  which  Orchids  are  Fertilised  by 
Insects.  8vo.  London,  1862. 

The  Various  Contrivances  by  which  Orchids  are  Fertilised  by  In- 
sects. 2d  edition.  8vo.  London,  1887.  [In  the  second  edition  the 
word  "  On  "  is  omitted  from  the  title.] 

The  Movements  and  Habits  of  Climbing  Plants.  2d  edition. 
8vo.  London,  1875.  [First  appeared  in  the  ninth  volume  of  the 
Journal  of  the  Linnczan  Society  J\ 

The  Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication.  2 
vols.  8vo.  London,  1868. 

The  Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication.  2d 
edition,  revised.  2  vols.  8vo.  London,  1875. 

The  Descent  of  Man,  and  Selection  in  Relation  to  Sex.  2  vcls. 
8vo.  London,  1871. 

The  Descent  of  Man,  and  Selection  in  Relation  to  Sex.  2d 
edition.  8vo.  London,  1874.  (In  I  vol.) 

The  Expression  of  the  Emotions  in  Man  and  Animals.  8vo.  Lon- 
don, 1872. 

Insectivorous  Plants.     8vo.     London,  1875. 

The  Effects  of  Cross-  and  Self-Fertilisation  in  the  Vegetable 
Kingdom.  8vo.  London,  1876. 

The  Effects  of  Cross-  and  Self-Fertilisation  in  the  Vegetable 
Kingdom.  2d  edition.  8vo.  London,  1878. 

The  Different  Forms  of  Flowers  on  Plants  of  the  Same  Species. 
8vo.  London,  1877. 

The  Different  Forms  of  Flowers  on  Plants  of  the  Same  Species. 
2d  edition.  8vo.  London,  1880. 

The  Power  of  Movement  in  Plants.  By  Charles  Darwin,  assisted 
by  Francis  Darwin.  8vo.  London,  1880. 

The  Formation  of  Vegetable  Mould,  through  the  Action  of  Worms, 
with  Observations  on  their  Habits.  8vo.  London,  1881. 


266  Charles  Darwin. 

LIST    OF    BOOKS    CONTAINING    CONTRIBUTIONS    BY 
CHARLES  DARWIN. 

A  Manual  of  Scientific  Enquiry  ;  Prepared  for  the  Use  of  Her 
Majesty's  Navy  ;  and  Adapted  for  Travellers  in  General.  Ed.  by  Sir 
John  F.  W.  Herschel,  Bart.  8vo.  London,  1849.  (Section  VI. 
Geology.  By  Charles  Darwin.) 

Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Stevens  Henslow.  By  the  Rev.  Leonard 
Jenyns.  8vo.  London,  1862.  [In  Chapter  III.,  Recollections  by 
C.  Darwin.] 

A  letter  (1876)  on  the  "  Drift "  near  Southampton,  published  in 
Prof.  J.  Geikie's  "  Prehistoric  Europe." 

Flowers  and  Their  Unbidden  Guests.  By  A.  Kerner.  With  a  Pref- 
atory letter  by  Charles  Darwin.  The  translation  revised  and  edited 
by  W.  Ogle.  8vo.  London,  1878. 

Erasmus  Darwin.  By  Ernst  Krause.  Translated  from  the  German 
by  W.  S.  Dallas.  With  a  Preliminary  Notice  by  Charles  Darwin. 
8vo.  London,  1879. 

Studies  in  the  Theory  of  Descent.  By  Aug.  Weismann.  Trans- 
lated and  edited  by  Raphael  Meldola.  With  a  Prefatory  Notice  by 
Charles  Darwin.  8vo.  London,  1880 — . 

The  Fertilisation  of  Flowers.  By  Hermann  Mtiller.  Translated 
and  edited  by  D'Arcy  W.  Thompson.  With  a  Preface  by  Charles 
Darwin.  8vo.  London,  1883. 

Mental  Evolution  in  Animals.  By  G.  J.  Romanes.  With  a 
Posthumous  Essay  on  Instinct  by  Charles  Darwin,  1883.  [Also  pub- 
lished in  the  Journal  of  the  Linnaan  Society. .] 

Some  Notes  on  a  curious  habit  of  male  humble  bees  were  sent  to 
Prof.  Hermann  Mtiller,  of  Lippstadt,  who  had  permission  from  Mr. 
Darwin  to  make  what  use  he  pleased  of  them.  After  Muller's  death 
the  Notes  were  given  by  his  son  to  Dr.  E.  Krause,  who  published 
them  under  the  title,  "  Ueber  die  Wege  der  Hummel-Mannchen  "  in 
his  book, ' '  Gesammelte  kleinere  Schriften  von  Charles  Darwin  "  (1886). 

LIST   OF  SCIENTIFIC   PAPERS,    INCLUDING  A  SELEC- 
TION OF  LETTERS  AND  SHORT  COMMUNICATIONS 
TO   SCIENTIFIC  JOURNALS. 

Letters  to  Professor  Henslow,  read  by  him  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Cambridge  Philosophical  Society,  held  Nov.  16,  1835.  31  pp.  8vo. 
Privately  printed  for  distribution  among  the  members  of  the  Society. 


Appendix.  267 

Geological  Notes  Made  During  a  Survey  of  the  East  and  West  Coasts 
of  South  America  in  the  Years  1832,  1833,  1834,  and  1835  ;  with  an 
account  of  a  transverse  section  of  the  Cordilleras  of  the  Andes  between 
Valparaiso  and  Mendoza.  [Read  Nov.  18,  1835.]  Geol.  Soc.  Proc., 
ii.,  1838,  pp.  210-212.  [This  Paper  is  incorrectly  described  in  Geol. 
Soc.  Proc.,  ii.,  p.  210,  as  follows:  "  Geological  Notes,  etc.,  by  F. 
Darwin,  Esq.,  of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge  :  communicated  by 
Prof.  Sedgwick."  It  is  Indexed  under  C.  Darwin.] 

Notes  upon  the  Rhea  Americana.  Zool.  Soc.  Proc.,  Part  V.,  1837, 
PP-  35,  36. 

Observations  of  Proofs  of  Recent  Elevation  on  the  Coast  of  Chili, 
Made  During  the  Survey  of  H.M.S.  Beagle,  Commanded  by  Capt. 
Fitz-Roy.  [1837.]  Geol.  Soc.  Proc.,  ii.,  1838,  pp.  446-449. 

A  Sketch  of  the  Deposits  Containing  Extinct  Mammalia  in  the 
Neighbourhood  of  the  Plata.  [1837.]  Geol.  Soc.  Proc.,  ii.,  1838, 
pp.  542-544- 

On  Certain  Areas  of  Elevation  and  Subsidence  in  the  Pacific  and 
Indian  Oceans,  as  Deduced  from  the  Study  of  Coral  Formations. 
[1837.]  Geol.  Soc.  Proc.,  ii.,  1838,  pp.  552~554- 

On  the  Formation  of  Mould.  [Read  Nov.  I,  1837.]  Geol.  Soc. 
Proc.,  ii.,  1838,  pp.  574-576  ;  Geol.  Soc.  Trans.,  v.,  1840,  pp. 
505-510. 

On  the  Connexion  of  Certain  Volcanic  Phenomena  and  on  the  For- 
mation of  Mountain-chains  and  the  Effects  of  Continental  Elevations. 
[Read  March  7,  1838.]  Geol.  Soc.  Proc.,  ii.,  1838,  pp.  654-660; 
Geol.  Soc.  Trans.,  v.,  1840,  pp.  601-632.  [In  the  Society's  Trans- 
actions the  wording  of  the  title  is  slightly  different.] 

Origin  of  Saliferous  Deposits.  Salt  Lakes  of  Patagonia  and  La 
Plata.  Geol.  Soc.  Journ.,  ii.  (Part  II.),  1838,  pp.  127-128. 

Note  on  a  Rock  Seen  on  an  Iceberg  in  16°  South  Latitude.  Geogr. 
Soc.  Journ.,  ix.,  1839,  pp.  528,  529. 

Observations  on  the  Parallel  Roads  of  Glen  Roy,  and  of  Other  Parts 
of  Lochaber  in  Scotland  ;  with  an  attempt  to  prove  that  they  are  of 
marine  origin.  Phil.  Trans.,  1839,  pp.  39-82. 

On  a  Remarkable  Bar  of  Sandstone  off  Pernambuco,  on  the  Coast 
of  Brazil.  Phil.  Mag.,  xix.,  1841,  pp.  257-260. 

On  the  Distribution  of  the  Erratic  Boulders  and  on  the  Contem- 
poraneous Unstratified  Deposits  of  South  America.  [1841.]  Geol. 
Soc.  Proc.,  iii.,  1842,  pp.  425-430  ;  Geol.  Soc.  Trans.,  vi.,  1842,  pp. 
415-452. 


268  Charles  Darwin. 

Notes  on  the  Effects  Produced  by  the  Ancient  Glaciers  of  Caernar- 
vonshire, and  on  the  Boulders  Transported  by  Floating  Ice.  London 
Philosoph.  Mag.,  vol.  xxi.,  p.  180,  1842. 

Remarks  on  the  Preceding  Paper,  in  a  Letter  from  Charles  Darwin, 
Esq.,  to  Mr.  Maclaren.  Edinb.  New  Phil.  Journ.,  xxxiv.,  1843.  pp. 
47-5°-  [The ' '  preceding  "  paper  is  :  "On  Coral  Islands  and  Reefs  as 
described  by  Mr.  Darwin.  By  Charles  Maclaren,  Esq.,  F.R.S.E."] 

Observations  on  the  Structure  and  Propagation  of  the  Genus  Sagilla. 
Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  xiii.,  1844,  pp.  1-6. 

Brief  Descriptions  of  several  Terrestrial  Planariae,  and  of  Some  Re- 
markable Marine  Species,  with  an  Account  of  their  Habits.  Ann. 
and  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  xiv.,  1844,  pp.  241-251. 

An  Account  of  the  Fine  Dust  which  often  falls  on  Vessels  in  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  Geol.  Soc.  Journ.,  ii.,  1846,  pp.  26-30. 

On  the  Geology  of  the  Falkland  Islands.  Geol.  Soc.  Journ.,  ii., 
1846,  pp.  267-274. 

A  review  of  Waterhouse's  "Natural  History  of  the  Mammalia." 
[Not  signed.]  Ann.  and  Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.,  1847,  vol.  xix.  p.  53. 

On  the  Transportal  of  Erratic  Boulders  from  a  lower  to  a  higher 
level  Geol.  Soc.  Journ.,  iv.,  1848,  pp.  315-323. 

On  British  Fossil  Lepadidae.  Geol.  Soc.  Journ.,  vi.,  1850,  pp. 
439,440.  [The  G.  S.  J.  says  :  "  This  paper  was  withdrawn  by  the 
author  with  the  permission  of  the  Council."] 

Analogy  of  the  Structure  of  Some  Volcanic  Rocks  with  that  of 
Glaciers.  Edinb.  Roy.  Soc.  Proc.,  ii.,  1851,  pp.  17,  18. 

On  the  Power  of  Icebergs  to  Make  Rectilinear,  Uniformly-directed 
Grooves  across  a  Submarine  Undulatory  Surface.  Phil.  Mag.,  x. 
1855,  PP-  9&-98- 

Vitality  of  Seeds.     Gardeners'  Chronicle,  Nov.  17,  1855,  p.  758. 

On  the  Action  of  Sea-water  on  the  Germination  of  Seeds.  [1856.] 
Linn.  Soc.  Journ.,  i.,  1857  (Botany},  pp.  130-140. 

On  the  Agency  of  Bees  in  the  Fertilisation  of  Papilionaceous 
Flowers.  Gardeners'  Chronicle,  p.  725,  1857. 

On  the  Tendency  of  Species  to  Form  Varieties ;  and  on  the  Per- 
petuation of  Varieties  and  Species  by  Natural  Means  of  Selection. 
By  Charles  Darwin,  Esq.,  F.R.S.,  F.L.S.,  and  F.G.S.,  and  Alfred 
Wallace,  Esq.  [Read  July  1st,  1858.]  Journ.  Linn.  Soc.,  1859, 
vol.  iii.  (Zoology},  p.  45. 

Special  titles  of  C.  Darwin's  contributions  to  the  foregoing :  (i.)  Ex- 
tract from  an  Unpublished  Work  on  Species  by  C.  Darwin,  Esq.,  con- 


Appendix,  269 


sisting  of  a  portion  of  a  chapter  entitled,  On  the  Variation  of  Or- 
ganic Beings  in  a  State  of  Nature  ;  on  the  Natural  Means  of  Selection  ; 
on  the  Comparison  of  Domestic  Races  and  true  Species,  (ii.)  Ab- 
stract of  a  Letter  from  C.  Darwin,  Esq.,  to  Professor  Asa  Gray,  of 
Boston,  U.  S.,  dated  Sept.  5,  1857. 

On  the  Agency  of  Bees  in  the  Fertilisation  of  Papilionaceous  Flow- 
ers, and  on  the  Crossing  of  Kidney  Beans.  Gardeners'  Chronicle. 
1858,  p.  828,  and  Ann.  Nat.  Hist.,  3d  series,  ii.,  1858,  pp.  459-465. 
Do  the  Tineina  or  Other  Small  Moths  Suck  Flowers,  and  if  so  what 
Flowers?  Entom.  Weekly  Intel!.,  vol.  viii.,  1860,  p.  103. 

Note  on  the  Achenia  of  Pumilio  Argyrolepis.  Gardeners'  Chronicle, 
Jan.  5,  1861,  p.  4. 

Fertilisation  of  Vincas.  Gardeners'  Chronicle,  pp.  552,  831,  832, 1861. 
On  the  Two  Forms,  or  Dimorphic  Condition,  in  the  Species  of  Pri- 
mula,  and  on  their  Remarkable  Sexual  Relations.  Linn.  Soc.  Journ., 
vi.,  1862  (Botany),  pp.  77-96. 

On  the  Three  Remarkable  Sexual  Forms  of  Catasetum  tridentatum , 
an  Orchid  in  the  Possession  of  the  Linnsean  Society.  Linn.  Soc. 
Journ.,  vi.,  1862  (Botany),  pp.  151-157. 

Yellow  Rain.      Gardeners   Chronicle,  July  18,  1863,  p.  675. 

On  the  Thickness  of  the  Pampean  Formation  near  Buenos  Ayres, 
Geol.  Soc.  Journ.,  xix.,  1863,  pp.  68-71. 

On  the  So-called  "  Auditory-sac  "  of  Cirripedes.  Nat.  Hist.  Review, 
1863,  pp.  115-116. 

A  Review  of  Mr.  Bates'  Paper  on  Mimetic  Butterflies.  Nat.  Hist. 
Review,  1863,  p.  221 — .  [Not  signed.] 

On  the  Existence  of  Two  Forms,  and  on  their  Reciprocal  Sexual 
Relation,  in  Several  Species  of  the  Genus  Linum.  Linn.  Soc.  Journ.. 
vii.,  1864  (Botany),  pp.  69-83. 

On  the  Sexual  Relations  of  the  Three  Forms  of  Lythrum  salicaria. 
[1864.]  Linn.  Soc.  Journ.,  viii.,  1865  (Botany),  pp.  169-196. 

On  the  Movement  and  Habits  of  Climbing  Plants.  [1865.]  Linn. 
Soc.  Journ.,  ix.,  1867  (Botany),  pp.  1-118. 

Note  on  the  Common  Broom  (Cytisus  scoparius).  [1866.]  Linn. 
Soc.  Journ.,  ix.,  1867  (Botanv),  p.  358. 

Notes  on  the  Fertilisation  of  Orchids.  Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat. 
Hist.,  4th  series,  iv.,  1869,  pp.  141-159. 

On  the  Character  and  Hybrid-like  Nature  of  the  Offspring  from 
the  Illegitimate  Unions  of  Dimorphic  and  Trimorphic  Plants. 
[1868.]  Linn.  Soc.  Journ..  x.,  1869  (Botany),  pp.  393--137. 


270  Charles  Darwin. 

On  the  Specific  Difference  between  Primula  veris  Brit.  Fl.  (var. 
ojfuinalis,  of  Linn.),  P.  vulgaris,  Brit.  Fl.  (var.  acaulis,  Linn.),  and 
P.  elatior,  Jacq.  ;  and  on  the  Hybrid  Nature  of  the  common  Oxslip. 
With  Supplementary  Remarks  on  naturally  produced  Hybrids  in  the 
genus  Verbascum.  [1868.]  Linn.  Soc.  Journ.,  x.,  1869  (Botany). 

PP-  437-454- 

Note  on  the  Habits  of  the  Pampas  Woodpecker  (Colaptes  campes- 
tris).  Zool.  Soc.  Proc.,  Nov.  I,  1870,  pp.  705,706. 

Fertilisation  of  Leschenaultia.  Gardeners'  Chronicle,  p.  1166, 
1871. 

The  Fertilisation  of  Winter-flowering  Plants.  Nature,  Nov.  18, 
1869,  vol.  i.,  p.  85. 

Pangenesis.     Nature,  April  27,  1871,  vol.  iii.,  p.  502. 

A  New  View  of  Darwinism.  Nature,  July  6,  1871,  vol.  iv., 
p.  1 80. 

Bree  on  Darwinism.     Nature,  Aug.  8,  1872,  vol.  vi.,  p.  279. 

Inherited  Instinct.     Nature,  Feb.  13,  1873,  vol.  vii.,  p.  281. 

Perception  in  the  Lower  Animals.  Nature,  March  13,  1873,  vol. 
vii.,  p.  360. 

Origin  of  Certain  Instincts.  Nature,  April  3,  1873,  vol.  vii., 
p.  417- 

Habits  of  Ants.     Nature,  July  24,  1873,  vol.  viii.,  p.  244. 

On  the  Males  and  Complemental  Males  of  Certain  Cirripedes,  and 
on  Rudimentary  Structures.  Nature,  Sept.  25,  1873,  vol.  viii.,  p. 
431- 

Recent  Researches  on  Termites  and  Honey-bees.  Nature,  Feb. 
19,  1874,  vol.  ix.,  p.  308. 

Fertilisation  of  the  Fumariaceae.  Nature,  April  16,  1874,  vol. 
ix.,  p.  460. 

Flowers  of  the  Primrose  Destroyed  by  Birds.  Nature,  April  23, 
1874,  vol.  ix.,  p.  482  ;  May  14,  1874,  vol.  x.,  p.  24. 

Cherry  Blossoms.     Nature,  May  II,  1876,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  28. 

Sexual  Selection  in  Relation  to  Monkeys.  Nature,  Nov.  2,  1876, 
vol.  xv.,  p.  18.  Reprinted  as  a  supplement  to  the  "  Descent  of  Man," 
18— . 

Fritz  Muller  on  Flowers  and  Insects.  Nature,  Nov.  29,  1877, 
vol.  xvii,  p.  78. 

The  Scarcity  of  Holly  Berries  and  Bees.  Gardeners'  Chronicle, 
Jan.  20,  1877,  p.  83. 


Appendix.  2  7 1 


Note  on  Fertilisation  of  Plants.  Gardeners'  Chronicle,  vol.  vii., 
p.  246,  1877. 

A  Biographical  Sketch  of  an  Infant.     Mind,  No.  7,  July,  1877. 

Transplantation  of  Shells.  Nature,  May  30,  1878,  vol.  xviii.,  p. 
120. 

Fritz  Mliller  on  a  Frog  having  Eggs  on  its  back — on  the  Abortion 
of  the  Hairs  on  the  Legs  of  Certain  Caddis-Flies,  etc.  Nature, 
March  20,  1879,  vol.  xix.,  p.  462. 

Rats  and  Water-Casks.  Nature,  March  27,  1879,  vol.  xix.,  p. 
481. 

Fertility  of  Hybrids  from  the  Common  and  Chinese  Goose.  Na- 
ture, Jan.  i,  1880,  vol.  xxi.,  p.  207. 

The  Sexual  Colours  of  Certain  Butterflies.  Nature,  Jan.  8, 
1880,  vol.  xxi.,  p.  237. 

The   Omori   Shell  Mounds.      Nature,  April  15,  1880,  vol.  xxi., 

p.  561- 

Sir  Wyville  Thomson  and  Natural  Selection.     Nature,  Nov.  n, 

1880,  vol.  xxiii.,  p.  32. 

Black  Sheep.     Nature,  Dec.  30,  1880,  vol.  xxiii.,  p.  193. 
Movements  of  Plants.     Nature,  March  3,  1881,  vol.  xxiii.,  p.  409. 
The  Movements  of  Leaves.     Nature,  April  28,  1881,  vol.  xxiii., 
p.  603. 

Inheritance.     Nature,  July  21,  1 88 1,  vol.  xxiv.,  p.  257. 

Leaves  Injured  at  Night  by  Free  Radiation.     Nature,  Sept.  15. 

1881,  vol.  xxiv.,  p.  459. 

The  Parasitic  Habits  of  Molothrus.  Nature,  Nov.  17,  1881,  vol. 
xxv.,  p.  51, 

On   the  Dispersal    of    Freshwater  Bivalves.      Nature,   April  6, 

1882,  vol.  xxv.,  p.  529. 

The  Action  of  Carbonate  of  Ammonia  on  the  Roots  of  certain 
Plants.  [Read  March  16,  1882.]  Linn.  Soc.  Journ.  (Botany), 
vol.  xix.,  1882,  pp.  239-261. 

The  Action  of  Carbonate  of  Ammonia  on  Chlorophyll-bodies. 
[Read  March  6,  1882.]  Linn.  Soc.  Journ.  (Botany),  vol.  xix., 
1882,  pp.  262-284. 

On  the  Modification  of  a  Race  of  Syrian  Street-Dogs  by  Means  of 
Sexual  Selection.  By  W.  Van  Dyck.  With  a  Preliminary  Notice  by 
Charles  Darwin.  [Read  April  18,  1882.]  Proc.  Zoolog.  Soc.,  1882 
PP-  367-370- 


272  Charles  Darwin. 

WORKS  ON  DARWINISM  FOR  FURTHER  REFERENCE. 

ENGLISH. 

Contributions  to  the  Theory  of  Natural  Selection.     A.  R.  Wallace. 

Darwiniana.     Prof.  Asa  Gray. 

On  the  Origin  of  Species,  or  the  Causes  of  the  Phenomena  of 
Organic  Nature.  Prof.  Huxley. 

The  Scientific  Evidences  of  Organic  Evolution  (London,  1882). 
G.  J.  Romanes. 

Man  and  Apes  (Am.  ed.,  1874).     St.  George  Mivart. 

Animal  Life  as  Affected  by  the  Natural  Conditions  of  Existence. 
Karl  Semper. 

Degeneration,  a  Chapter  in  Darwinism  (London,  1880).  E.  R. 
Lankester. 

Mind  in  the  Lower  Animals  (London,  1879).     Lindsay. 

Animal  Intelligence.     G.  J.  Romanes. 

The  Fertilisation  of  Flowers  (Transl.,  London,  1883,  669  pp.). 
Hermann  Mttller. 

Inquiries  into  Human  Faculty  and  its  Development.  Francis 
Galton. 

Philosophical  Discussions.     Chauncey  Wright. 

On  the  Philosophic  Aspects  of  Darwinism.  G.  H.  Schneider  :  Der 
Thierischen  Wille  (xx.  and  447  pp.,  Leipzig,  1880). 

The  Theory  of  Evolution  of  Living  Things,  and  the  Application  of 
the  Principle  of  Evolution  to  Religion.  George  Henslow. 

Religion  and  Science.     Joseph  Leconte. 

Natural  Law,  an  Essay  on  Ethics.     Edith  Simcox. 

The  Theistic  Argument,  as  Affected  by  Recent  Theories.  J.  L. 
Diman. 

What  is  Darwinism  ?    Charles  Hodge. 

The  Story  of  the  Earth  and  Man.     J.  W.  Dawson. 

Winds  of  Doctrine,  being  an  Examination  of  the  Modern  Theories 
of  Atomism  and  Evolution  (London,  1877).  C.  Elam. 

On  the  Genesis  of  Species.     St.  George  Mivart. 

Lessons  from  Nature  as  Manifested  in  Mind  and  Matter.  St. 
George  Mivart. 

Contemporary  Evolution.     St.  George  Mivart. 

Contributions  to  the  Natural  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i., 
Essay  on  Classification;  also  Amer.  Journ.  Sci.,  July,  1860. 
L.  Agassis, 


Appendix.  2  73 


FOREIGN. 

Beitnige  zur  Descendenz-Theorie  (Leipzig,  1876).    Georg  Seidlitz. 

Entwickelungsgeschichte  des  Menschen  und  der  hdheren  Thiere 
iste  Halite  (Leipzig,  1876).  A.  Kolliker. 

Anthropogenic,  Entwickelungsgeschichte  des  Menschen  (Leipzig, 
1874).  E.  Haeckel. 

Die  neuere  Schopfungsgeschichte  (Leipzig,  1875).     Arnold  Dodel. 

Die  Verwandtschaftsbeziehungen  der  gegliederten  Thiere  (Wurtz- 
burg,  1875).  C.  Semper. 

Fttr  Darwin  (Leipzig,  1864).     Fritz  Mttller. 

Ueber  die  erste  Entstehung  organischen  Wesen  u.  deren  Spaltung 
in  Arten  (Berlin,  1866).  A.  Mailer. 

Zur  Entwickelungstheorie  (Jena,  1876).     Otto  Zacharias. 

Der  Kampf  der  Theile  in  Organismus  (Leipzig,  1881).     W.  Roux. 

In  Sachen  Darwin's  insbesondere  contra  Wigand  (Stuttgart,  1874). 
Gustav  Jager. 

Etudes  sur  la  selection  dans  ses  rapports  avec  1'heredite  chez 
1'homme.  P.  Jacoby. 

Der  Darwinismus  und  seine  Stellung  in  der  Philosophic  (Berlin, 
1877).  Eugen  Dreher. 

Philosophische  Consequenzen  der  Lamarck-Danvin'schen  Entwicke- 
lungstheorie (Leipzig  and  Heidelberg).  Georg  Von  Gizycki. 

Kant  und  Darwin,  ein  Beitrag  zur  Geschite  der  Entwickelungslehre 
(Jena,  1875).  Fritz  Schultze. 

Die  Darwin'schen  Theorien  und  ihre  Stellung  zur  Philosophic, 
Religion,  und  Morals  (Stuttgart).  Rudolf  Schmid. 

La  Teoria  di  Darwin  Criticamente  Exposta,  Biblioteca  Scientifica 
Internationale  (Milano,  1880).  G.  Canestrini. 

Der  Darwinismus  und  die  Naturforschung  Newtons  und  Cuviers 
(3  vols.,  1874-7).  A-  Wigand. 

Wahrheit  und  Irrthum  in  Darwinismus  (Berlin,  1875).  E.  Von 
Hartmann. 

Die  Freiheit  der  Wissenschaft  im  modernen  Staa,.  (Berlin,  1877). 
R.  Virchow. 

Haeckelismus  in  der  Zoologie  (Hamburg,  1876).     C.  Semper. 

Anti-Darwinistische  Beobachtungen  (Bonn,  1877).     F.  Michaelis. 

A  journal  of  highest  ability  devoted  to  evolution  is  Kosmos, 
Zeitschrift  fur  einheitliche  Weltanschaung  auf  Grund  der  En- 
twickelungslehre,  in  Verbindring  mil  Charles  Darwin  und  Ernst 
Haeckel,  soivie  einer  Reihe  hervorragenden  Forsclier  auf  den  Gebieten 
•ifs  Darwinismus  (monthly,  80  pp.,  since  1876). 


INDEX. 


184 


Abinger  Hall,  242 
Aconcagua,  89 
Adventure  Island,  263 
Agassiz,  Louis,  272 
Agouti,  49 

Albermarle  Island,  in 
Allen,  Dr.,  30 
Amblyrhynchus,  108 
America,  186 
Amethyst  Mountai 
Ant-eater,  49 
Antennarius,  176 
Antuco,  93 
Archseopterix,   193 
Aristotle,  167 
Armadillo,  49 
Ascenium,  121 
Aspalax,  44 
Atavism,  181 
Atlantic  cable,  184 
Atoll,  117 
Azara,  45,  65 
Azores,  122 

B 

Bahia,  28 

Bahia  Blanca,  104 

Baker,  Frank,  195,  250 

Banda  Oriental,  104 

Bastile    170 

Beagle,  5,  19,  263 

Beagle  Inlet,  So 


Berkeley  Sound,  78 

Bibliography,  259 

Biological  Society,  195 

Birgos,  115 

Biscacha,  58 

Bolas,  42 

Botofogo  Bay,  29 

Brazil,  37 

Buenos  Ayres,  46,  49 

Buff on,  1 68 

Burmeister,  Prof.,  73 

Butler,  Dr.,  2 

Butterflies,  37  ;  shower  of,  69 


Callao,  103 

Cape  Horn,  70 

Cape  of  Good  Hope,  128 

Cape  Verde  Islands,  22 

Capybara,  43 

Cattle,  peculiar  breed  of,  6; 

Chacao,  87 

Chamisso,  114 

Charles  Island,  in 

Chatham,   107 

Chile,  37 

Chiloe,  87 

Chonos  Archipelago,  £  - 

Cirripedia,  264 

Cocoa-nut,  115 

Colorado  River,  4$ 

Concepcion,  90 

Condor,  77 

Confervas,  32 


275 


276 


Index. 


Cope,  E.  D.,  183 

De  Maillet,  168 

Cophias,  53 
Copiapo,  96 
Coral,  117 

Descent,  194 
Desmodus,  33 
Diman,  J.  L.,  272 

Coral-eating  fish,  116 
Cormorant,  81 

Diodon,  29 
Doubleday,  Mr.,  38 

Coseguina,  89 

Dover  cliffs,  6,  184 

Crabs,  86  ;  mimicry  of,  176 

Dreher,  Eugene,  273 

Creation,  203 

Drouths,  64 

Crocodile,  55 

Duncan,  Dr.,  6 

Cuttle-fish,  25 

Dust  showers,  23 

D 

E 

Dagger,  41 

East  Falkland  Islands,  78 

Dall,  W.  H.,  195,  208 

Edinburgh,  7 

Darwin,  birth,  2  ;  school  days,  2  ; 

Ehrenberg,  23,  24 

religious  feeling,  3  ;  collections, 

Egg  collecting,  3 

4  ;  walks,   4-9  ;  at  Maer,   4-9  ; 

Egypt,  186 

laboratory  work,    5  ;   university 

Elater,  36 

life,  6  ;  nickname  of,  6  ;  wealth 

El  Bramador,  103 

of,  6  ;  vacation  of,  9  ;  as  a  hunt- 

El Carmen,  47 

er,  10  ;  college  life,   12  ;   books 

Embryo,  191 

read   by,  14  ;   on    slavery,    33  ; 

Emotions,  265 

on  birds,  88  ;  works  on   coral, 

Eocene,  188 

117,  261;  appearance  of,  131,239; 

Epeira,  web  of,  39 

daily  life  of,  133  ;  early  papers 

Equus,  189 

of,  137  ;  services  to  science,  140  ; 

Evolution,  173 

conclusions,  141  ;  publication  of 

Extinction,  64,  76 

his  great  work,    143  ;  birth   of 

Darwinism,    144  ;  botanical   re- 

F 

searches,     145  ;     religious    reti- 

cence, 147  ;  buried  in  Westmin- 

Falmouth, 122 

ster  Abbey,  148  ;  membership  in 

Fernando  Noronha,  26,  27 

societies,   149  ;  a  birthday  gift. 

Fire-fly,  36 

151  ;  honors,    152-155  ;   family, 

Floating  islands,  85 

156  ;  memorial,  167  ;  theory  of, 

Flustra,  2,  8 

184  ;    memorial  on,    195  ;   doc- 

Flying fish,  26,  34 

trine  of,    196  ;    Children,    212  ; 

Fossils,  68 

friends  of,   212  ;  death  of,  213  ; 

Fuegians,  79 

philosophy   of,  214  ;    as  an  en- 

tomologist, 228  ;  home  of,  239  ; 

G 

letters  of,   240  ;   as  a  botanist, 

244  ;  bibliography  of,  259  ;  pa- 
pers of,  268  ;  foreign  works  on, 

Galapagos,  32,  106 
Geographical  distribution,  62 

273 

Geological  Society,  125 

Darwin,  E.  G.,  91 

Germany,  193 

Darwinism,  works  on,  162,  272 

Giants,  79 

Dawson,  J.  W.,  272 

Giant-weed,  81 

Deer,  43 

Gill,  Theo.,  195 

Index. 


277 


Glaciers,  82 

K 

Goethe,  170 

Goode,  Prof;,  196 
Grant,  Dr.,  7 

Keeling  Island,  114 
Kolliker,  Prof.,  273 

Gray,  172 

Greenland,  191 

T 

Greenwich,  124 

Lj 

Greyhound,  174 

Lagostomus,  58 

Lamarck,  44,  171 

H 

Lambert,  168 

Haeckel,  Ernst,  273 
Hairless  dog,  60 

Lampyris,  36 
Lancaster,  E.  R.,  272 
La  Place,  168 

Hartman,  Von  E.,  273 

La  Plata,  53 

Harvey,  W.  H.,  168 
Head,  Sir  F.,  101 

Lianes,  34 
Lightning,  45 

Hecla  QO 

Lima,  zod 

Henslow,  Prof.,  14 
Hesperornis,  192 
Herschel,  Sir  J.,  168 
Hibernation,  53,  54 

Linnsean  Society,  126 
Lizards,  53,  108 
Llama,  72 
Lobster,  195 

Hill,  Major,  10 
Hipparion,  188 
Hippocampus,  47 

Locusts,  100 
Luxan,  101 
Lyell,  Sir  Chas.,  61,  171 

Hodge,  Charles,  272 

Holcodont,  193 

M 

Holder,  J.  B.,  13 
Horner,  L.,  8 
Horse,  62,  66,  188 

Mackintosh,  Sir  John,  n,  17 
Macrauchenia,  73,  104 

Hot  springs,  84 
Humboldt,  17,  172 
Huxley,  174 
Hydrochaerus,  43 

Macrocystis,  81 
Malay,  115 
Maldonado,  40 
Marsh    Prof.,  62 
Mathews,  P.,  200 

Mauritius,  120 

I 

Megatherium,  49 

Iceberg,  82 
Incas,  188 
Indians,  51,  56 
Insectivorous  plants,  242 

Mendoza,  102 
Megalonyx,  49 
Mesohippus,  189 
Michaelis,  273 
Mimics,  53,  79 

Minerals,  7 

J 

Mines,  84 

Miohippus,  189 

acoby,  P.,  273 

Mivart,  St.  G.,  271 

ames  Islands,  109 

Monboddo,  170 

aguar,  44,  65 

Monkeys,  35 

elly-fish,  58,  71 
enyns,  Rev.  L.,  263 

Monte  Video,  43,  46 
Moresby,  Capt,  no 

ungle  fowl,  173 

Mould,  265 

278 


Index. 


MUller,  F.f  273 

Plinian  Society,  I 

Murderers,  40 

Pernambuco,  121 

Mylodon,  49 
Myopotamus,  87 

Philosophical     Society     of     Cam. 
bridge,  124 

N 

Q 

Neptune,  28 

Quail,  43 

Noddy,  26 

Quinquina  Island,  91 

Numinulite,  186 

R 

o 

Ramsay,  Prof.,  186 

Octopus,  24,  31 

Razor  clam,  99 

Odontornithes,  igi 

Red  snow,  98 

Oken,  170 

Reefs,  barrier,  117 

Orchid,  265 

Reefs,  coral,  117,  264 

Origin  of  species,  264 
Orohippus,  190 

Reptiles,  193 
Rhea,  52 

Osorno,  87 

Rhizopods,  184 

Ostrich,  42,  51 

Ribeira  Grande,  23 

Otter,  81 

Riley,  C.  V.,  228 

Owen,  Prof.,  49 

Rio  Negro,  33,  47 

Owen,  Sir  R.,  172 

Rio  Tercero,  59 

Robber-crab,  27 

P 

Romanes,  G.  J.,  272 

Paleozoic,  180 

Rosas,  Gen.,  55 
Roux,  W.,  273 

Pampas,  61 
Pander,  170 

Royal  navy,  17 
Royal  Society,  264 

Papilio,  37 

Ruins,  85 

Parana,  59 

Reef  structures,  119    . 

Parrot-fish,  116 
Patagonia,  72 
Penguin,  39 

Royal  Academy,  125 
Rhea  Americanus,  126 

Peru,  104 

s 

Philosophy,  218 

Phosphorescence,  70 

Sacred  tree,  48 

Planarian,  35 

Salt  lake,  48 

Plata,  39 

San  Carlos,  86 

Pliocene,  189 

San  Carlos  Bay,  89 

Polyborus,  45 

San  Lorenzo,  104 

Porpoise,  39 

Santa  Cruz,  51,  73 

Portillo  Pass,  97 

Santa  Fe,  60 

Porto  Praya,  24 

Santa  Maria,  94 

Powell,  J.  W.,  195,  214 

Sarandis,  67 

Protococcus,  98 

Sargassum,  176 

Pteranodon,  44 

Scarus,  116 

Puma,  85,  86 

Schleiden,  170 

Pyramid,  186 

Schmidt,  R.,  27-5 

Pyrophorus,  30                                     Schultze,  F.,  170,  273 

Index. 


279 


Schwann,  170 
Scott,  Sir  W.,  8 
Seals,  39 
Sea-horse,  47 
Sea-sickness,  31 
Sea-slug,  24 
Sea  spiders,  38 
Sedgwick,  18 
Seeds,  180 
Semper,  K.,  272 
Sharks,  27 
Sorbonne,  170 
Spencer,  172 
Starling,  45 
St.  Hilaire,  170 
St.  Jago,  27,  73 
Stokes,  Lord,  21 
Stone  forest,  184 
St.  Helena,  120 
St.  Paul's  Rocks,  26 
Strata,  184 
Survey,  40. 
Symonds,  Sir  W.,  27 


Tahiti,  113 
Talcahuana,  91 
Teneriffe,  17 
Tern,  26 

Terra  del  Fuego,  32 
Tertiary,  186 
Thales,  168 
Tidal  wave,  92 
Torpedo,  183 
Toxodon,  5° 
Trotters,  173 


True,  Fred.  W.,  195,  258 
Tucutuco,  44 
Turtles,  114 


U 


Uruguay,  59 
Uspullata,  101 


Valdivia,  90 
Valparaiso,  67,  83 
Vampire,  33 
Variability,  181 
Varieties,  173 
Von  Baer,  170 
Von  Mohl,  170 


Wallace,  Alfred,  172 

Walleechu,  49 

Ward,  Lester  F.,  195,  242 

Wills,  Dr.,  200 

Wolf,  170 

Woodhouse,  9 

Wright,  C.,  168,  272 


Yale  College,  192 
Yaquil,  85 
Youmans,  E.  L.,  172 


Zacharias,  Otto.  273 


Ston?  of  tbe  Iflations. 


MESSRS.  G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS  take  pleasure  in 
announcing  that  they  have  in  course  of  publication,  in 
co-operation  with  Mr.  T.  Fisher  Unwin,  of  London,  a 
series  of  historical  studies,  intended  to  present  in  a 
graphic  manner  the  stories  of  the  different  nations  that 
have  attained  prominence  in  history. 

In  the  story  form  the  current  of  each  national  life  is 
distinctly  indicated,  and  its  picturesque  and  noteworthy 
periods  and  episodes  are  presented  for  the  reader  in  their 
philosophical  relation  to  each  other  as  well  as  to  universal 
history. 

It  is  the  plan  of  the  writers  of  the  different  volumes  to 
enter  into  the  real  life  of  the  peoples,  and  to  bring  them 
before  the  reader  as  they  actually  lived,  labored,  and 
struggled — as  they  studied  and  wrote,  and  as  they  amused 
themselves.  In  carrying  out  this  plan,  the  myths,  with 
which  the  history  of  all  lands  begins,  will  not  be  over- 
looked, though  these  will  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
the  actual  history,  so  far  as  the  labors  of  the  accepted 
historical  authorities  have  resulted  in  definite  conclusions. 

The  subjects  of  the  different  volumes  have  been  planned 
to  cover  connecting  and,  as  far  as  possible,  consecutive 
epochs  or  periods,  so  that  the  set  when  completed  will 
present  in  a  comprehensive  narrative  the  chief  events  in 


the  great  STORY  OF  THE  NATIONS  ;  but  it  is,  of  course 
not  always  practicable  to  issue  the  several  volumes  in 
their  chronological  order. 

The  "  Stories  "  are  printed  in  good  readable  type,  and 
in  handsome  I2mo  form.  They  are  adequately  illustrated 
and  furnished  with  maps  and  indexes.  Price,  per  vol., 
cloth,  5-y.  Half  morocco,  gilt  top,  6s. 

The  following  volumes  are  now  ready  (November,  1 891) : 

THE  STORY  OF  GREECE.     Prof.  JAS.  A.  HARRISON. 
ROME.    ARTHUR  OILMAN. 
THE  JEWS.     Prof.  JAMES  K.  HOSMKR. 
CHALDEA.     Z.  A.  RAGOZIN. 
GERMANY.     S.  BARING-GOULD. 
NORWAY.     HJALMAR  H.  BOYESEN. 
SPAIN.     Rev.  E.  E.  and  SUSAN  HALE. 
.HUNGARY.     Prof.  A.  V^MBERY. 
CARTHAGE.     Prof.  ALFRED  J.  CHURCH. 
THE  SARACENS.     ARTHUR  GILMAN. 
THE  MOORS  IN  SPAIN.     STANLEY  LANE-POOLE. 
THE  NORMANS.     SARAH  ORXE  JEWETT. 
PERSIA.     S.  G.  W.  BENJAMIN. 
ANCIENT  EGYPT.     Prof.  GEO.  RAWLINSON. 
ALEXANDER'S  EMPIRE.     Prof.  T.  P.  MAHAFFY. 
ASSYRIA.    Z.  A.  RAGOZIN. 
THE  GOTHS.     HENRY  BRADLEY. 
IRELAND.     Hon.  EMILY  LAWLESS. 
TURKEY.    STANLEY  LANE-POOLE. 
MEDIA,  BABYLON,  AND  PERSIA.  Z.  A.  RAGOZIN. 
MEDIEVAL  FRANCE.     Prof.  GUSTAV  MASSOS. 
HOLLAND.     Prof.  J.  THOROLD  ROGERS. 
MEXICO.    SUSAN  HALE. 
PHOZNICIA.     Prof.  GEO.  RAWLINSON. 
THE  HANSA  TOWNS.     HELEN  ZIMMERX. 
EARLY  BRITAIN.     Prof.  ALFRED  J.  CHURCH. 
THE  BARBARY  CORSAIRS.  STANLEY  LANE-POOI.L. 
RUSSIA.     W.  R.  MORFILL. 

THE  JEWS  UNDER  ROME.     W.  D.  MORRISON. 
SCOTLAND.    JOHN  MACKINTOSH. 
SWITZERLAND.  R.  STEAD  and  Mrs.  ARNOLD  Hue;. 
PORTUGAL.     H.  MORSE-STEPHENS. 
THE  BYZANTINE  EMPIRE.     C.  W.  C.  OMAN. 


Now   n  press  for  immediate  issue : 


THE  STORY  OF  SICILY.     E.  A.  FREEMAN. 

"    VEDIC  INDIA.     Z.  A.  RAGOZIN. 
'    THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES.     HELEN  A.  SMITH. 
'    WALES  AND  CORNWALL.     OWEN  M.  EDWARDS. 
•    CANADA.     A.  R.  MACFARLANE. 


G    P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK 


T.   FISHER  UNWIN 
LONDON 


Iberoes  of  tbe  Bations. 

EDITED    BY 

EVELYN  ABBOTT  M.A.,  FELLOW  OF  BALLIOL  COLLEGE,  OXFORD. 


A  SERIES  of  biographical  studies  of  the  lives  and  work 
of  a  number  of  representative  historical  characters  about 
whom  have  gathered  the  great  traditions  of  the  Nations 
to  which  they  belonged,  and  who  have  been  accepted,  in 
many  instances,  as  types  of  the  several  National  ideals. 
With  the  life  of  each  typical  character  will  be  presented 
a  picture  of  the  National  conditions  surrounding  him 
during  his  career. 

The  narratives  are  the  work  of  writers  who  are  recog- 
nized authorities  on  their  several  subjects,  and,  while 
thoroughly  trustworthy  as  history,  will  present  picturesque 
and  dramatic  "stories"  of  the  Men  and  of  the  events  con- 
nected with  them. 

To  the  Life  of  each  "  Hero  "  will  be  given  one  duo- 
decimo volume,  handsomely  printed  in  large  type,  pro- 
vided with  maps  and  adequately  illustrated  according  to 
the  special  requirements  of  the  several  subjects.  The 
volumes  will  be  sold  separately  as  follows  : 

Cloth  extra ft1    5° 

Half  morocco,  uncut  edges,  gilt  top       .         .  i   75 

Large  paper,  limited  to  250  numbered  copies  for 
subscribers  to  the  series.  These  may  be  ob- 
tained in  sheets  folded,  or  in  cloth,  uncut 
edges •  35° 


The    first    group    of   the   Series   will    comprise    twelve 
volumes,  as  follows  : 
Nelson,  and  the  Naval  Supremacy  of  England.    By  W.  CLARK  RUSSELL. 

author  of  "  The  Wreck  of  the  Grosvenor,"  etc. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  the  Struggle  of  Protestantism  for  Exist- 
ence.    By  C.  R.  L.  FLETCHER,  M.A.,  late  Fellow  of  All  Souls  College, 

Oxford. 
Pericles,  and  the  Golden  Age  of  Athens.     By  EVELYN  ABBOTT,  M.A., 

Fellow  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford. 
Theodoric  the  Goth,  the  Barbarian  Champion  of  Civilization.     By 

THOMAS  HODGKIN,  author  of  "  Italy  and  Her  Invaders,"  etc. 
Sir  Philip  Sidney,  and  the  Chivalry  of  England.     By  H.  R.   Fox- 

BOURNE,  author  of  "  The  Life  of  John  Locke,"  etc. 
Julius  Caesar,  and  the  Organization  of  the   Roman  Empire.      By 

W.  WARDE  FOWLER,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford. 
Alexander  the  Great,  and  the  Extension  of  Greek  Rule  and  of 

Greek  Ideas.     By  Prof.  BENJAMIN  I.  WHEELER,  Cornell  University. 
Charlemagne,  the  Reorganizer  of  Europe.     By  Prof.  GEORGE  L.  BURR, 

Cornell  University. 
Cicero,  and  the  Fall  of  the  Roman  Republic.     By  J.  L.  STRACHAN 

DAVIDSON,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford. 
Louis  XIV.,  and  the  Zenith  of  the  French  Monarchy.     By  ARTHUR 

HASSALL,  M.A.,  Senior  Student  of  Christ  Church  College,  Oxford. 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  and  the  Adventurers   of  England.     By  A.  L. 

SMITH,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford. 
Bismarck.     The  New  German  Empire :   How  It  Arose  ;  What  It 

Replaced  ;  and  What  It  Stands  For.     By  JAMES  SIME,  author  of 

"A  Life  of  Lessing,"  etc. 

To  be  followed  by : 
Henry  of  Navarre,  and  the  Huguenots  in  France.    By  P.  F.  WILLERT, 

M.A.,  Fellow  of  Exeter  College,  Oxford. 
William  of  Orange,  the  Founder  of  the  Dutch  Republic.     By  RUTH 

PUTNAM. 
Hannibal,  and  the   Struggle  between  Carthage  and   Rome.     By 

E.  A.  FREEMAN,  D.C.L.,    LL.D.,  Regius  Prof,    of   History  in   the 

University    of  Oxford. 
Alfred  the  Great,  and  the  First  Kingdom  in  England.    By  F.  YORK 

POWELL,  M.A.,  Senior  Student  of  Christ  Church  College,  Oxford. 
Charles  the  Bold,  and  the  Attempt  to  Found  a  Middle  Kingdom. 

By  R.  LODGE,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Brasenose  College,  Oxford. 
John  Calvin,  the  Hero  of  the  French  Protestants.     By  OWEN  M. 

EDWARDS,  Fellow  of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford. 
Oliver  Cromwell,  and  the   Rule  of  the  Puritans   in  England.     By 

CHARLES  FIRTH,  Balliol  College,  Oxford. 
Marlborough,  and   England  as   a   Military  Power.     By  C.   W.    C. 

OMAN,  A.M.,  Fellow  of  All  Souls  College,  Oxford. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK  LONDON 

77  AND  29  WBST  TWENTY-THIRD  STREET  24  BEDFORD  STREET,  STRAND 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


HISTORIC  GIRLS  :  Stories  of  girls  who  have  influenced 
the  history  of  their  times.  By  E.  S.  BROOKS.  Profusely 
illustrated $2  oo 

In  these  progressive  days  when  so  much  energy  and  discussion  are  de- 
voted to  what  is  termed  equality  and  the  rights  of  women,  it  is  well  to 
remember  that  there  have  been  in  the  distant  past  women,  and  girls  even, 
who  by  their  actions  and  endeavors  proved  themselves  the  equals  of  the 
men  of  their  time  in  valor,  shrewdness,  and  ability. 

This  volume  seeks  to  tell  for  the  girls  and  boys  of  to-day  the  stories  of 
some  of  their  sisters  of  the  long  ago — girls  who  by  eminent  position  or 
valiant  deeds  became  historic  even  before  they  had  passed  the  charming 
season  of  girlhood. 


"EDITH  OF  SCOTLAND." 

(Reduced  from  "  Historic  Girls.") 


Their  stories  are  fruitful  of  varying  lessons  ;  for  some  of  these  historic  girls 
were  wilful  as  well  as  courageous,  and  mischievous  as  well  as  tender-hearted. 

Contents  of  HISTORIC  GIRLS  :  Zenobia  of  Palmyra,  the  Girl  of  the  Syrian  Desert  ; 
Helena  of  Britain,  The  Girl  of  the  Essex  Fells  ;  Pulcheria  of  Constantinople,  The  Girl  of 
the  Golden  Horn  ;  Clotilda  of  Burgundy,  The  Girl  of  the  French  Vineyards  ;  Woo  of 
Hwang-ho,  The  Girl  of  the  Yellow  River  ;  Edith  of  Scotland,  the  Girl  of  the  Norman 
Abbey  ;  Jacqueline  of  Holland,  The  Girl  of  the  Land  of  Fogs  ;  Catarina  of  Venice,  The 
Girl  of  the  Grand  Canal  ;  Theresa  of  Avila,  The  Girl  of  the  Spanish  Sierras  ;  Elizabeth 
of  Tudor,  The  Girl  of  the  Hertford  Manor;  Christina  of  Sweden,  The  Girl  of  the 
Northern  Fiords  ;  Ma-ta-oka  of  Pow-ha-tan.  The  Girl  of  the  Virginia  Forests. 

G.  P.   PUTNAM'S  SONS,  NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


The  Travels  of  Marco  Polo.  Edited  for  Boys  and  Girls, 
with  Explanatory  Notes  and  Comments,  by  THOS.  W.  KNOX, 
author  of  "  Boy  Travellers  in  the  East,"  "  The  Young 
Nimrod,"  etc.  Quarto,  with  over  two  hundred  illustrations. 
Uniform  with  the  "  Boy  Plutarch  "  and  "  Heroditus."  pp. 
53° $25° 


RIDING  IN  A  CAMEL   LITTER. 
(From  "  The  Travels  of  Marco  Polo.") 

The  story  of  his  travels  was  received  with  incredulity,  and  he  died  while 
Europe  was  gravely  doubting  its  truth.  It  has  remained  for  later  genera- 
tions to  establish  the  correctness  of  his  narrative  and  accord  him  the  praise 
he  so  richly  deserves. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON. 


A     000  745  345     9 


